Netherlands vs Sweden: Dutch into Women's World Cup final after Jackie Groenen winner

Re-live all the coverage from the second semi-final of the Women's World Cup

Women’s World Cup in numbers

The Netherlands will play the United States for the Women's World Cup title after Jackie Groenen sealed a 1-0 victory over Sweden in extra-time on Wednesday night.

A slick passing sequence ended in the 99th minute with Groenen driving a shot from outside the penalty area past goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.

The goal that broke the deadlock in a sweltering stadium set up a meeting between the European champions and the reigning world champions. Re-live the action below:

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[3 July 2019 17:49 · Ben Burrows]

Good evening and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Netherlands vs Sweden in the Women's World Cup semi-finals.

The Netherlands are into last four after seeing off Italy in the quarter-finals and in Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens have two of the very best players in the tournament.

They won't have it all their own way against Sweden, however, after they knocked out Germany to reach the semi-finals for a fourth time.

The victors will meet USA in Sunday's final after the 2015 winners beat England on Tuesday night.

We'll have all the latest updates from Lyon throughout the evening.

[3 July 2019 18:26 · Michael Jones]

Let's first take a look at last night's dramatic semi-final where the USA clinched a 2-1 win over the Lionesses of England. Here's how it happened:

[3 July 2019 18:37 · Michael Jones]

Lionesses put women's football on the map

But it wasn't all bad news for the Lionesses. Their semi-final against the USA was the most watched television programme of 2019 so far drawing in an audience of around 12 million people.

[3 July 2019 18:44 · Michael Jones]

Lucy Bronze 'completely disagrees' with criticism of England's penalties

In the dying minutes of the first semi-final, England were awarded a penalty after VAR showed Ellen White had been knocked in the box.

Captain Steph Houghton stepped up to take it only to have her shot saved. It was the third penalty England missed during their World Cup campaign and certainly the most costly.

Understandably their penalty takers have found themselves under a microscope but England right-back, Lucy Bronze, 'completely disagrees' with the criticism they've been getting.

Here's what she had to say: 

[3 July 2019 18:54 · Michael Jones]

More lessons for England

"I’ve moved on from this already,” Phil Neville said in the post semi-final press conference. “I've started [looking forward] already. I was in a room this afternoon planning the next two years. It's the way I work. It's fast.”

But surely, those are hollow words from a manager who's entire driving force was to win the World Cup with England.

Once Saturday is out of the way, it will be time to slow down and return to this defeat with a cold, analytical eye.

But what lessons can England take from their defeat?

[3 July 2019 18:58 · Michael Jones]

Netherlands vs Sweden

But that was yesterday, England went out and the USA await for either the Netherlands or Sweden, but who will it be?

[3 July 2019 19:05 · Michael Jones]

Netherlands vs Sweden team news

Netherlands

van Veenendaal, van Lunteren, van der Gragt, Bloodworth, van Dongen, Groenen, Spitse, van de Donk, Beerensteyn, Miedema, Martens

Sweden

Lindahl, Glas, Fischer, Sembrant, Eriksson, Bjorn, Seger, Jakobsson, Asllani, Hurtig, Blackstenius

 

[3 July 2019 19:14 · Michael Jones]

 Team news

Netherlands make only one change to the starting XI that saw off Italy in their quarter-final. Shanice van de Sanden drops to the bench with Lineth Beerenstyen replacing her.

There's two changes for the Swedish team that stunned Germany in the quarter-finals. Nathalie Bjorn and Lina Hurtig come in to replace Elin Rubensson and Fridolina Rolfo.

[3 July 2019 19:15 · Michael Jones]

Team news

Here's a look at the two teams, side-by-side: 

[3 July 2019 19:30 · Michael Jones]

How did they get here?

The European champions, the Netherlands, won Group E with three wins out of three before overcoming Japan in the round of 16.

They faced a surprising side in Italy during the quarter-final but came away with a 2-0 victory to set up this clash with Sweden.

Sweden, for their part, came second in Group F after losing against the USA. They defeated Canada 1-0 in the last 16 before coming from behind to shock Germany 2-1 in the quarters. 

Now they face the Netherlands, who knocked them out of the 2017 European Championship with a 2-0 quarter-final win.