Defending champions, the Netherlands and the first winners of the Women’s Euro, Sweden broke the records set by Spain and Finland a day before the match in the non-host group stage with the most participants in Saturday’s tournament.
A total of 21,342 people took part in the Group C competition at Bramble Lane in Sheffield. On Friday, 16,819 spectators attended the Spain-Finland Group B match at Milton Keynes. A record that has just been 24 hours.
The 2005 edition of the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament also surpassed all attendance in just four days. On Friday, the competition reached a total attendance of 137,816, surpassing the number of tournaments held in England 17 years ago (118,403).
Stagnation in Sheffield
On the pitch, the first and previous champions of the Women’s Euro formed a competition of the tournament. With thousands of fans visiting, the Netherlands disappointed coach Mark Parsons after a loss to Sweden at the start of defending the European Championship title for women.
Jonah Anderson’s goal in the 52nd minute was deflected by Jill Rudd – just the third of 51 appearances for the Swedish wing back – to restore a 1-1 draw for the Netherlands in Group C on Saturday.
‘It was tough but we got some nice moments when we played some possession football,’ Parsons said. ‘It wasn’t enough, the spaces were big in size, so it meant Viv (Midema) and others had to run too much. I was very disappointed with the goal. A quick improvement is needed with a meeting with Portugal on Wednesday, which came back from a 2-2 draw in the second half before recovering from a double rate in the first five minutes against Switzerland.
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The Dutch have also assessed the injuries that forced goalkeeper Sari van Venendal and defender Anik Nouen to disrupt the clash with Sweden.
Switzerland and Portugal play four equal goals
In another Group C match of the day, Switzerland and Portugal drew 2-2, with a pair of goals from Comba So and Rachel Kivic returning in the first five minutes of the match.
Portugal’s recovery began in the 58th minute through Diana Gomez, who faced a rebound after defending her early header from a corner through goalkeeper Gail Thalman.
In the 65th minute, Jessica Silva equalized on Tatiana Pinto’s cross, replacing the early Swiss goals of Comba So and Rachel Kivich.
‘It’s Portugal – a Portugal with a spirit, a fighting spirit,’ Silva said.
‘The bravery shown was great but unfortunately we couldn’t score more goals than that.’ Portugal coach Francisco Neto was thrilled to see the maturity shown by his players who secured places in the 16-team tournament only after Russia was banned from attacking Ukraine.