Soccer Football – Women’s World Cup – Round of 16 – Sweden v Canada – Parc des Princes, Paris, France – June 24, 2019 Canada’s Nichelle Prince in action with Sweden’s Magdalena Eriksson and Caroline Seger REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS (Reuters) – Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius struck in the second half as they won 1-0 against Canada, who missed a late penalty, at the women’s World Cup to set up a quarter-final against Germany.
In sweltering conditions at the Parc des Princes, the two teams struggled to register any shots on target in a first half.
That all changed after the break when the Swedes stepped up a level and they were finally rewarded in the 55th minute when the Canadians lost possession of the ball in midfield.
Kosovare Asllani played an inch perfect diagonal ball to striker Blackstenius, who prodded the ball past onrushing keeper Stephanie Labbe.
It was her first goal of the tournament and it freed the Swedish team, who almost added a second with a thunderous drive from Fridolina Rolfo in the 61st minute.
Canada had a chance to get back into the game after 68 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after a lengthy VAR review ruled that Asllani had handled the ball.
However, veteran Sweden keeper Hedvig Lindahl dived to her right to tip Janine Beckie’s spot kick away.
The save appeared to suck the spirit out of the Canadians who struggled to create much beyond a few half chances and Asllani almost scored for Sweden five minutes from time as she volleyed in from a corner, but her shot was cleared off the line.
Sweden will now face two-time champions Germany on Saturday in Rennes, a repeat of the 2003 final won by Germany.
Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar