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The third quarterfinals of the European Championship are played. The main time and extra time between the Netherlands and Sweden ended goalless, but after a penalty shootout victory was celebrated by the Dutch. They will meet the tournament's host, Portugal, in the semi-finals.
Sweden - Netherlands 0 - 0
Penalty shootout 4 - 5: [1 - 0] [1 - 1] [2 - 1] [2 - 2] [2 - 3] [3 - 3] [4 - 3] [4 - 4] [4 - 5]
In the beginning, neither team had the initiative. In the 10th minute, Robben shot towards the goal, but the goalkeeper defended the shot. Five minutes later, Isaksson saved Seedorf's penalty shot. At the end of the first half, Svensson tried a couple of long shots, but initially Bouma blocked it, and later Van der Sar caught the ball.
After the break, Van Nistelrooy was very active, with his header flying just wide and a heel attempt missing the target. In the 56th minute, the danger on the other side of the field - Larsson passed the ball towards the far corner, Stams and Ibrahimovic's shots were blocked from the goal line by Cocu.
In the 62nd minute, Van Nistelrooy received a long pass, stopped it with his chest, but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper, and the ball rolled far away from the goal. Four minutes later, center-back Stam made a run towards the goal, but his weak shot missed the target. In the 75th minute, Ljungberg received the ball in the penalty area, turned sharply, and shot slightly off target.
Soon after, young Kallstrom came onto the field, and his shots were twice blocked by Dutch defenders. Van Nistelrooy missed a chance with a header, and Makai shot from 20 meters went wide. The main time ended goalless at 0-0, so the teams had to play extra time.
In the third minute of extra time, the Dutch were close to scoring. Isaksson couldn’t catch Robben's powerful shot, and the ball hit the post, but Makai missed the opportunity. Seven minutes later, Isaksson saved Seedorf's shot, and soon after Van Nistelrooy failed to direct the ball towards the goal.
At the beginning of the second extra time period, Isaksson played excellently - with one hand he saved Seedorf's curled penalty shot. Later, Cocu couldn’t head the ball towards the goal, and Van Nistelrooy's goal was disallowed due to offside.
In the 22nd minute of extra time, Heitinga tried to eliminate the danger in the penalty area but hit Bouma, and the ball bounced to Larsson, who turned and shot hard but hit the crossbar. Four minutes later, Swedes were unlucky again - Ljungberg's shot from 20 meters bounced off the post.
With neither team able to score, the match went to penalty shootouts. Kallstrom, Van Nistelrooy, Larsson, Heitinga, all scored confidently, while Ibrahimovic’s shot went over the crossbar. After Reiziger scored, the Swedes almost couldn’t miss. Ljungberg, hitting the crossbar, saw the ball bounce off the back of the goalkeeper and into the goal. Then Cocu hit the post, Wilhelmson and Makai scored accurately. Unfortunately for the Swedes, captain Mellberg missed, and Van der Sar saved the ball. The decisive penalty was scored by Robben - the Dutch won the shootout and the match.
