|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Josefine Oeqvist came into the game late, scored the winning goal and then burst into tears.
The score by the late-game substitute gave Sweden a 2-1 win over Canada on Sunday night and its first-ever trip to the World Cup finals.
Oeqvist had just come into the game in the 70th minute, with Sweden hoping to make that final push in a tie game with Canada.
ADVERTISEMENT
Her shot 16 minutes later hit the post then caromed in to give Sweden the victory.
Sweden will face Germany on Oct. 12 in Carson, Calif. Ticketmaster
Germany upset the defending champion United States 3-0 in the other semifinal. Canada will face the U.S. team next Saturday for third place.
``We've been working hard for this for many and we are through -- finally,'' Sweden coach Marika Domanski Lyfors said.
Kara Lang's kick from 30 feet in the 65th minute couldn't be grasped by Sweden goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson, who was returning after missing the quarterfinal match against Brazil.
But Sweden, ranked fifth in the world, came right back when Victoria Svensson fed the ball to onrushing teammate Malin Mostroem, who just beat diving Canadian goalkeeper Taryn Swiatek to tie it 1-1. Ticketmaster
Then came Oeqvist.
``We pushed and pushed trying to get a goal. We changed our organization with our players in back. We scored once, we scored twice and we had to calm down a little bit and try to stop them from scoring,'' Domanski Lyfors said.
Canada, ranked No. 12 in the world, showed spunk early in the match, with Swiatek deftly catching a tricky header by forward Hanna Ljungberg in the 18th minute.
Swiatek blocked another straight-on shot by Svensson, who threw up her arms and covered her face in frustration.
``We got a little stressed but we felt we were so much better and had so many more chances,'' Ljungberg said.
The match was a defensive struggle most of the way, with Canada holding up well despite having lost defender Isabelle Morneau to a knee injury in a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over China. Ticketmaster
Canada, already thin on defense, had moved forward Charmaine Hooper to help.
``That was not the best soccer game that I have seen, but it was very lively,'' Canada coach Even Pellerud said.
Sweden lost 3-1 to the United States in the opening match but then went on to beat North Korea, Nigeria and Brazil.
Canada, which had never won a World Cup match before this year, lost 4-1 to Germany in its opening game then beat Argentina and Japan to advance to the quarterfinal. The Canadians upset China -- which was supposed to be the host of the World Cup until it was moved for fear of the SARS virus -- to become the surprise of the tournament. Ticketmaster
``It's been a great
learning experience for us, young and old, to make it to the semifinals,'' forward
Christine Latham said.