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75 min: Or maybe it’s none of those things and the players of both teams have simply been hypnotised by the Sweden fan with the megaphone who is singing the chorus of Abba’s Lay All Your Love On Me on a loop in the stand. There are worse ear-worms, I suppose.
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72 min: Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the interruptions for the substitutions, or maybe a combination of both but the game seems to have lost all it’s impetus and rhythm. It’s a state of affairs that will suit Sweden just fine as they seek to see out their win.
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69 min: I joked in the first half about twins feeling each other’s pain but get this – Karen Holmgaard has gone off with what looked like a hamstring injury and now her twin sister Sara appears to be limping too. Spooky, eh?
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Denmark double-substitution: Josefine Hasbo and Signe Bruun are on for Karen Holmgaard and Amalie Vangsgaard.
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Sweden double-substitution: Smilla Holmberg and Rebecka Blomqvist are on for Janogyand Lundkvist.
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65 min: Sweden’s Madelen Janogy dives to get her head to an excellent Hanna Lundkvist cross towards the far post. She sends her effort wide and thumps the ground in frustration.
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62 min: Oh my! Sweden go this close to scoring their second from a corner only for Frederike Thorgerson to hook away a Stina Blackstenius shot that was going into the corner. Sweden thought they’d scored but were denied by a brilliant goalline clearance.
Frederikke Thogersen clears the ball off the line! Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw/ReutersShare
Updated at 18.40 BST
58 min: Denmark’s Janni Thomson gallops down the left wing and drifts inside with the ball at her feet but her excellent, energy-sapping work comes to nothing when she fails to either shoot, hold the ball up or pick out a teammate and just gives away possession after running into traffic.
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Updated at 18.25 BST
57 min: Denmark attempt to restore parity immediately but Sweden centre-back Nathalie Bjorn is in the right place to block a low, goalbound shot from Emma Snerle that was trundling towards the bottom corner.
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GOAL! Denmark 0-1 Sweden (Angeldaahl 55)
Sweden lead! Angeldaahl plays a give-and-go with Kosovare Asllani on the edge of the Denmark box, receives the return pass and fires a low shot into the far corner.
Sweden have the breakthrough! Photograph: Matthew Childs/ReutersShare
Updated at 18.25 BST
54 min: For Sweden, Asllani receives the ball in a good position on the inside left but isunable to … oh, hang on – there’s been a goal.
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52 min: Sweden advance with Kaneyrd on the ball. She has the freedom of the pitch and charges to the edge of the Denmark box before laying it off to Angeldaahl. She tries to curl a shot into the bottom corner from 20 yards but is unable to get the necessary bend on her shot, which cannons into a defender.
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51 min: After an extremely lively start to the first half, the corresponding minutes of the second have been utterly uneventful.
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49 min: A couple of the stand have completely emptied due to the searing heat. I’m not sure where the occupants have moved to but they obviously found the temperature unbearable.
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46 min: Emma Snerle gets the second half under way for Denmark and there are on changes in personnel on either side. During the break, a cameraman on the Uefa feed zoomed in on the reading material of one young Danish fan who was deeply engrossed in a textbook entitled Particle Physics. A real page-turner, if I remember correctly.
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Half-time: Denmark 0-0 Sweden
It’s been an absorbing enough opening half but good chances have been very few and far between. Sweden have been the better team and had the pick of the chances, with FIlippa Angeldaahl forcing a wonderful save out of Denmark goalkeeper Maja Bay with a thunderbolt of a freekick a little under 10 minutes ago.
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45+7: Emma Scherle is booked retrospectivewly for a late challenge on Angeldaahl after our Brazilian referee had allowed Sweden to play the advantage. And that’s it for the first half …
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45+6 min: “Re: your choice of beverage during the drinks break,” writes Joe Pearson. “As it was only 12:30 or so here in Indiana, I went with a Chardonnay. No judgment.”
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45+4 min: Snerle spreads the ball wide for Denmark but the intended recipient of her pass, Karen Holmgaard, is unable to control the high ball properly. Sweden win it back.
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45+2 min: We’re into seven minutes of added time, most of them due to the five minutes it took various officials to decide not to award what would have been a massively unjust penalty to Denmark earlier in the game. Swedish continue to have the upper hand but they’re certainly not having it all their own way.
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44 min: There wasn’t much finesse about that free-kick; Angeldaahl just leathered a surface-to-air screamer towards the goal. I was certain it was going into the top corner but Bay’s save was terrific and well worth the congratulations she received from various relieved teammates seconds later.
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43 min: Sweden get a free-kick in a great position just outside the Denmark penalty area. The Danes form a red wall of resistance and Filippa Angeldaahl steps up to strike. Her shot is a beauty and looks destined for the top corner until Denmark goalkeeper Maja Bay pulls off a superb save.
Maja Bay Ostergaard makes a fine save to deny Sweden the opener. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/ReutersShare
Updated at 17.54 BST
41 min: Karen Holmgaard is OK to continue and I can confirm that just because she hurt her knee, her twin sister Sara didn’t appear to feel her pain. You hear that about twins, sometimes … or have I imagined that?
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39 min: There’s a break in play as Danish midfielder Karen Holmgaard receives treatment for an injury and the players of both teams return to the touchline to get more liquids on board. The temperature out on the pitch in Geneva is hovering around the 30c mark.
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37 min: Denmark win a corner but the inswinger is comfortably claimed by Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk.
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36 min: On the edge of the Swedish penalty area, a little left of centre, Pernille Harder picks up a pass from her Danish teammate Emma Snerle and tries to arrow a shot into the far corner. It’s not a terrible effort but the ball sails over the angle of crossbar and upright.
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Updated at 17.40 BST
34 min: Sweden win their fifth corner of the game and the delivery is punched clear by Jennifer Falk. The Swedes recycle the ball, get it back in the box and it’s cleared to Nathalie Bjorn on the edge of the area. She curls a shot well wide and it’s head-in-hands time for the centre-half.
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31 min: Sweden continue their policy of getting the ball wide to Rytting Kaneyrd on the right touchline as often as possible but the Chelsea winger is not getting a great deal of change out of an extremely well organised Danish defence.
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329 min: Sweden corner. Nathalie Bjorn gets her head to the ball at a crowded near post but sends her effort wide. She’s then penalised for a non-existent foul on the Danish goalkeeper because they happened to be standing in the same Swiss canton.
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26 min: It’s getting tasty out there. Denmark’s Amelie Vangsgaard appeals for a free-kick or something more punitive as Julie Zigotti Olme flies in with a challenge and sends her up in the air. She doesn’t get one and there’s a pause for a drinks break. Seeing as it’s a Friday evening, mine’s a large vodka, lime and soda, please. Don’t spare the ice.
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24 min: Sweden keep turning the screw but Denmark are looking fairly obdurate in defence. The Swedes get the ball wide to Kaneryd, who has touchline chalk on her boots, but Sara Holmsgaard is on hand to intercept and put the ball out for a throw-in.
Pernille Harder heads the ball away under pressure from Hanna Lundkvist. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPAShare
Updated at 17.35 BST
22 min: Shaping like rugby’s Jonny Wilkinson readying himself to take a penalty kick from inside his own half, Denmark’s Emma Snerle launches another free-kick from distance towards the Sweden penalty area. I’ll tell you what – she can’t half hoof the ball but on this occasion she is unable to pick out a teammate.
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20 min: Despite that earlier, extremely lengthy penalty scare, Sweden definitely look a class above their Danish opponents and have had much the better of this game in the opening 20 minutes.
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17 min: Sweden attack again. Johanna Rytting Kaneryd canters down the inside right and pulls the ball back to Stina Blackstenius from the byline. Before the two-times Ballon D’Or runner-up can sort her feet out and get a shot away from six yards, Katrine Veje gets back to steal the ball with an excellent challenge. She had to turn her after-burners on there.
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Updated at 17.22 BST
15 min: Sweden win a couple of corners in quick succession but are unable to make them count. They advance upfield again with Asllani on the ball, she plays it inside from the left wing and Denmark win it back.
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13 min: A recap: Janogy was trying to chase Harder as the Danish captain tried to latch on to the long ball ball into the box. She lost her balance and fell over with her arms outstretched to protect herself – as people tend to do – and the ball hit her hand. If that had been given as a penalty the Swedes would have had every right to feel very aggrieved.
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VAR check complete: No penalty …
11 min: It took an eternity but we got there in the end. Janogy breathes a sigh of relief and Denmark don’t get a penalty. I think it’s the right decision but Pernille Harder and others disagree with me.
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9 min: After a lengthy delay, the VAR officials abdicate responsibility and send our Brazilian referee to her pitchside monitor. Janogy was falling to the ground when the ball hit her arm and I’m not sure what she could have done to avoid the contact. We’re into our fifth minute of this nonsense now …
Referee Edina Alves Batista checks the screen… Photograph: Piroschka Van De Wouw/ReutersShare
Updated at 17.18 BST
VAR check for a penalty!
6 min: Denmark win a free-kick about 10 yards inside the Sweden half and Emma Snerle tries to pick out Pernille Harder at the back post with a ferociously struck welly. She gets contact on the ball but is only able to steer a weak effort towards Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk. There’s a VAR check for a potential handball by Sweden’s Madelen Janogy, who was marking Harder.
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4 min: From the counter-attack, the Danes win the second corner of the game after a Janni Thomsen cross is put out of play. Sweden clear their lines.
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3 min: Sweden go close, with Johanna Rytting Kaneryd cutting into the Denmark penalty area from the right and picking out Filippa Angeldahl. Her shot takes a deflection and goes out for a corner from which the Danes break upfield. It’s a lively start.
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1 min: Within seconds of kick-off, Denmark’s Karen Holmgaard gets an early ticking off from referee Batista for a rough challenge on Kosovare Asllani and some post-tackle “afters”. She avoids a booking.
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Denmark v Sweden is go …
1 min: With Germany near certainties to top the group and tournament debutants Poland expected to do little more than make up the numbers in Group C, this match is huge. Following a perfectly observed silence for Diogo and Andre, Sweden get the ball rolling, with the players of both teams wearing … well, the colours of Denmark and Sweden respectively. Game on!
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Not long now: Referee Edina Alves Batista and her team of match officials lead out the teams, who line up for their national anthems. Once those who have been sung, they’ll assemble around the edge of the centre-circle and have a minute’s silence for Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, the Portuguese footballing brothers who lost their lives in a traffic accident in Spain yesterday.
ShareDenmark fans at the Stade de Geneve. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty ImagesShareSweden’s players begin their warm-up with some high-five drills. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Getty ImagesShare
Andree Jeglertz: Denmark’s head coach is also heading for the exit door as soon as the nation’s interest in this tournament is over but begins it with a match against his native Sweden. The 53-year-old’s contract with Denmark expires this summer, at which point he will take over as the head coach of Manchester City women, an appointment that was announced yesterday. He will be replaced in the Denmark role by Jakob Michelse.
Denmark head coach Andree Jeglertz speaks to the media during his pre-match press conference. Photograph: Jan Kruger/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Peter Gerhardsson: This tournament will mark the end of the Sweden head coach’s eight-year spell in charge of his country, a period in which he led his team to third plac e in two World Cups, an Olympic silver medal and a semi-final place at the Euros. Despite these impressive achievements, he will, however, be best remembered as the bloke who accidentally wandered into a broom cupboard following a press conference at the last World Cup.
As Ella Lindvall pointed out in her team guide to Sweden, it was an error which was immortalised in cartoon form by the legendary David Squires, much to the genuine delight of Gerhardsson. After this tournament, he – Gerhardsson, not Squires – will be replaced by the former Australia head coach Tony Gustavsson.
Sweden head coach Peter Gerhardsson has a fine body of football work behind him but is best remembered for accidentally trying to exit a World Cup press conference via a broom cupboard. Photograph: Jan Kruger/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.45 BST
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Edina Alves Batista
Assistant referees: Neuza Inês Back and Fabrini Bevilaqua da Costa
Fourth Official: Ivana Martinčić
VAR: Tiago Bruno Lopes Martins
Assistant VAR: Jelena Cvetković
Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista will take charge of tonight’s match in Geneva. Photograph: Jean-Christophe Bott/EPAShareDenmark’s Signe Bruun, Emma Snerle and Sara Thrige make their way to the dressing-room after inspecting the pitch. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/UEFA/Getty ImagesShareSweden midfielder Kosovare Asllani will make her 200th appearance for her country today. Let’s raise two bats to the pavillion in honour of Sweden midfielder Kosovare Asllani, who will make her 200th appearance for her country today.Share
Updated at 16.20 BST
Twin sisters and Everton teammates Sara (left … or possibly right) and Karen Holmgaard will line up in Denmark’s midfield today. Photograph: Nigel French/PAShare
Sweden team guide: Filippa Angeldahl, Stina Blackstenius and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd are among the world-class talents who will spearhead Sweden’s campaign. Words: Ella Lindvall.
Sweden’s star player and all-time record goalscorer Johanna Rytting Kaneryd gets her stretch on before training at the Stade de Geneve yesterday. Photograph: Jan Kruger/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Denmark team guide: Pernille Harder will lead from the front but Germany and Sweden are favourites to progress from Group C, writes Sofie Engberg Munch.
Pernille Harder (left) and Cornelia Kramer pose for a portrait ahead of the tournament. Photograph: Linus Hallsenius/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Denmark v Sweden line-ups
Denmark (3-5-3): Bay, Faerge, Ballisager, Veje, Thogersen, Karen Holmgaard, Snerle, Sara Holmgaard, Thomsen, Vangsgaard, Harder.
Subs: Larsen, Vingum, Thrige, Obaze, Troelsgaard, Nadim, Kuhl, Hasbo, Bredgaard, Madsen, Bruun, Kramer.
Sweden (4-3-3): Falk, Lundkvist, Bjorn, Sembrant, Andersson, Angeldal, Asllani, Zigiotti Olme, Kaneryd, Blackstenius, Janogy.
Subs: Holmgren, Enblom, Nilden, Eriksson, Hurtig, Jakobsson, Ilestedt, Wangerheim, Rolfo, Bennison, Holmberg, Blomqvist.
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Early team news: Sweden’s promising young midfielder Rosa Kafaji will miss the tournament after undergoing surgery on an ankle injury she picked up in April. The 21-year-old has struggled for game time since moving to Arsenal from Hacken but has been earmarked as one for the future by her manager Reneee Slegers.
Barcelona left-back Fridolina Rolfo has travelled with the Sweden squad but there are slight concerns over her fitness after she damaged ligaments in her foot last month. In the extremely likely event that Kosovare Asllani features tonight, she will make her 200th appearance for her country.
Denmark have a comparatively clean bill of health and their manager Andre Jeglertz is likely to set out his stall with three at the back, while a potent looking front three should be comprised of Bayer Munich’s Pernille Harder, Bayer Leverkusen’s Cornelia Kramer and Real Madrid’s Signe Bruun.
Kosovare Asllani is likely to make her 200th appearance in a Sweden shirt tonight. Photograph: Jan Kruger/UEFA/Getty ImagesShare
Group C: Denmark v Sweden
With a player of the quality of Pernille Harder in their ranks, it’s no surprise our Euro 25 guide to Denmark says they “have the quality to beat anyone”. Unfortunately for the Danes, their most recent match was a month ago against tonight’s opponents in the Nations League and they were battered 6-1. It is an embarrassment they will be hoping to put behind them as they attempt to avoid an unwanted recent hat-trick of consecutive defeats against Sweden.
While Denmark qualified for this tournament by winning top spot in their qualification group ahead of Belgium and the Czech Republic, Sweden were forced to enter through the back door after finishing third in their group. They went on to score 20 goals without reply across playoff ties against Luxembourg and Serbia, and have since beaten Norway in a warm-up game. They go into tonight’s match at the Stade de Geneve on a 12-match unbeaten streak. Kick-off in Switzerland is at 5pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
Stade de Geneve, where tonight’s match between Sweden and Denmark will be played. Photograph: Mathias Bergeld/BILDBYRÅN/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 16.06 BST