Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Women's World Cup 2019: Chile vs Sweden temporarily suspended by thunder and lightning in Rennes

Match temporarily stopped after 71 minutes due to adverse weather conditions

Mark Critchley
Tuesday 11 June 2019 19:47 BST
Comments
Women's World Cup: 'Remember The Name' advert

Sweden's hard-fought win over Chile at the Women’s World Cup was temporarily suspended on Tuesday after thunder and lightning hit the city of Rennes.

The opening Group F match at Roazhon Park came to a halt after 71 minutes amid adverse weather and dangerous conditions overhead.

Sweden, one of the tournament’s dark horses, were being held to a goalless draw by an organised and well-disciplined Chile when referee Lucila Venegas Montes forced both sets of players off.

Though the game began in bright sunshine, the weather in the east of Brittany worsened, with heavy rain falling after around 15 minutes of play.

The match resumed at 7.12pm BST, after a 43-minute delay to proceedings and Sweden eventually broke through to claim all three points.

Kosovare Asllani broke the deadlock seven minutes from time, firing high past Chile goalkeeper Christiane Endler, who had denied Sweden on several occasions.

Substitute Madelen Janogy added a brilliant second in the fifth minute of stoppage time to ensure Peter Gerhardsson's side of victory.

Sweden will now travel to Nice to play Thailand on Sunday, while Chile face holders the United States in Paris.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in