She did everything right – almost. Jennifer Falk saved four of England's seven penalties, which should normally be enough to win.
Yet she left the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich as a loser.
Sweden lost the quarterfinal in the European Championship in football with 4–5 after penalties and has to go home.
I do not know what to say really, honestly. It just feels really tough right now, says Häcken goalkeeper.
Not only did she save four penalties. She also got the chance to really become Sweden's big match hero. National team captain Peter Gerhardsson asked if Falk wanted to take the team's fifth penalty and she said yes.
I took a penalty with the club team last year and just felt that it was fun that he trusted me.
”Damn shit”
Had she scored it, Sweden would have advanced to the semifinal.
She shot over.
”Damn shit”, says Falk about the first thought when she saw the ball fly over the goal.
I just thought that I would take a few deep breaths and try to put it to the left. Which I did not do. Which is very tough right now, says Jennifer Falk.
Praises the 18-year-old's courage
She saved another penalty. Sweden got a new chance to decide, but this time England's Hannah Hampton saved the attempt from Sofia Jakobsson.
Lucy Bronze then gave England the lead and when Smilla Holmberg also shot over, the match was over.
Jennifer Falk praises the 18-year-old right back who dared to step forward when it mattered most.
I just thought ”damn, what a courageous girl she is". I have told her that she should be proud of herself, that she is great, says Falk.
There were four other players to choose from in the penalty shootout: Madelen Janogy, Rebecka Blomqvist, Lina Hurtig and Amanda Nildén. All with more experience than the championship debutant Smilla Holmberg.
Peter Gerhardsson defends the decision anyway.
She is maybe one of the best penalty shooters in training and it was up for discussion that she would be one of the first five. But there are eleven players and the players wanted before that we would set (order) 1–11 on these players, and that's what we did, says Gerhardsson.
