It went bang, bang, bang at Strawberry Arena and before the clock had reached 11 minutes, Sweden had scored in Tuesday's group final in the Nations League.
Sweden only needed one point to secure the group win, which would give a place in the autumn's finals, but had clearly no intention of defending themselves to the tournament's "final four".
This is how the victory was secured on the mild early summer evening in Solna:
+ After 37 seconds, Stina Blackstenius pulled the ball past and rolled it in.
+ A little over four minutes into the match, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd snatched a Danish mispass, ran free and chipped in 2–0.
+ In the 11th minute, it was Filippa Angeldahl's turn to find the target. A misplaced Blackstenius at the penalty area border passed the ball back to Angeldahl, who thundered in 3–0 with a heavy long shot.
We get a fantastic start with early scoring. It usually makes a huge difference. I think we come out well in our high defensive play with a lot of aggression, there's a lot that's good. I'm proud of the whole team, says Stina Blackstenius.
Quick reply
Denmark reduced a few minutes before halftime, when Janni Thomsen scored 1–3 after a quick counterattack.
But the joy was not long-lived.
Stina Blackstenius had struggled with scoring during the spring, but maybe something was released when she scored the only goal to decide the Champions League final for Arsenal last week. For before the evening was over, the forward had scored both one and two goals more, and completed a hat-trick.
Nice farewell
Before the match against Denmark, she had not scored a single national team goal since the beginning of December last year, but now the goal form seems to have arrived just in time for the summer's European Championship.
My first hat-trick in the national team. It's fun to be involved and contribute, it was nice to get to score some today, says Blackstenius.
In added time, another Arsenal player, Lina Hurtig, scored 6–1.
For Peter Gerhardsson, this became a lovely farewell from the national arena. He is ending as national team coach after the European Championship and will then hand over to Tony Gustavsson, who will be the one to take on Germany, France, and Spain in the Nations League finals in October-November.
First, Gerhardsson will steer the team through the European Championship in Switzerland, which for Sweden starts against Denmark on July 4.
