The Netherlands reach their first Women’s World Cup finals after a 1-0 victory over Sweden on Jackie Groenen’s goal nine minutes into the extra time.
When Jackie received the ball, even though she was outside the penalty area, the former Judo champion who is now the Dutch midfielder knew she had to seize the opportunity. It was 99 minutes into the semifinal and neither Netherland nor Sweden has any luck of goal. “I saw a nice angle; we have been discussing this for the past couple of weeks now that I need to take more shots often. The ball came really nicely and I thought, let’s do this!” said Groenen.
She smacked a 20-yard shot into the far lower corner before an announced crowd of 48,452 past the goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl. The first shot on the target in the World Cup produced her first goal of the tournament.“I am not much of a scorer. But today I am happy that I got to score,” she said.
Now the Dutch have to face the mighty US in the finals on Sunday at Stade de Lyon as the heavy favorite to win a second consecutive trophy. Sweden who was playing in their fourth semi-finals will now be facing England on Saturday’s third-place playoff in Nice.
