Helsingborg. The dream of starting a win or losing match against Italy was not enough.
Questionable penalty kick given cross.
Thus, the national under-21 team will miss the European Championship for the third time in a row.
The conditions were clear for the final group match of the national under-21 team against Italy in Olympia in front of 3,370 spectators: win or lose.
But winning does not automatically mean qualification for next year’s European Championship because they also depended on the result in Italy and Ireland on Tuesday.
Sweden started at the beginning of the dream when Karl Gustafsson, after a corner kick and on the far post, hit the ball in front of the goal as it grabbed the heel of the Italian foot and entered the goal: 1-0 already after nine minutes.
Edman: “bitter”
After a strong 25 minutes against Sweden, Italy dominated more and more at the end of the second half. Ten minutes before the end of the first half, the Italians requested a penalty kick after it was shot on the arm of Bilal Hussein, but the Belgian referee Nathan Verbomin denied it to them.
Just a minute later, Sweden goalkeeper Samuel Brolin had to make a superb save for a dangerous Italian gesture in the corner.
Rami El-Hajj, every day in Heerenveen, went up the Italian lead with a free kick as he dribbled past the Italian goalkeeper but didn’t shoot but the chance ran out in the sand instead.
However, Italy will get a penalty even if it is more questionable than in the previous incident: Fabiano Baresi ran ten minutes into the second half after a slipping interference with Emil Holm’s legs and took the opportunity to fall at the same moment.
– It’s definitely not a punishment. Bitter, expert Eric Adman told C More.
Brolin went right but Nicolo Rovilla’s penalty went anyway: 1-1.
Red card to Holm
Thus Sweden needed to win but were much closer to 1-2 than 2-1 after a draw. Brolin kept Sweden in the match with plenty of sweat saves.
FA captain Andreas Peterson sent 16-year-old Ronnie Bardje to midway through the second half but the Copenhagen FC striker couldn’t make a difference, despite his shot in the final seconds being blocked, and Blågult also had to dispense with Patrik Wålemark last 20 minutes due to injury.
– This is a parody of Verboomen stopping the game on the slopes with strange strokes, says Edman on the telecast.
Emil Holm was shown a straight red card three minutes before the end of the match.
The draw means that Sweden will miss the European Under-21 Championship for the third time in a row. In the end, it was the loss to Ireland that ruined the opportunity. Sweden played 1-1 in both meetings with Italy.
Italy and Ireland compensate for the group’s victory in the last group match.
