Defending champions Germany withstood a staggering assault by hosts Sweden to secure a narrow 1-0 win and advance to the final of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2013, where they will face Norway or Denmark.
It was a game the hosts dominated everywhere except for on the scoreboard.
However, despite creating a slew of chances in front of a sellout home crowd, Sweden could not find a way through the massed German ranks.
Photo: AFP
From the first whistle it looked like it would just be a matter of time before Sweden scored, but instead it was seven-time European champions Germany that took the lead in the 33rd minute.
Midfielder Dzsenifer Maroszan latched on to Anja Mittag’s pass and hit a weak shot under pressure, but she got enough power for the ball to roll over the line at the foot of goalkeeper Kristin Hammarstrom’s post.
Roared on by the partisan crowd, Sweden attacked in wave after wave and twice should have canceled out Maroszan’s opener.
First Lotta Schelin swept the ball into the back of the net for Sweden on the hour mark, but the referee disallowed the goal for a push on Annike Krahn.
Then, Josefin Oqvist rolled the ball past Nadine Angerer for what looked to be a certain equalizer, only for it to hit the far post and agonizingly stay out.
Germany are to face off against either Norway or Denmark, who were to meet yesterday night in Norrkoping, Sweden.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier