Shamrock Park was the venue for Northern Ireland’s World Cup Qualifier against Sweden on Saturday night. Sweden, who lost out to Germany in the final of the Euro Championships last year, looked strong from the start.
Within the first ten minutes, Sweden were awarded a penalty after a foul by Jessica Doran on Hanna Folkesson and Kosovare Asllani made no mistake in making it 1-0 to the away team before Lotta Schelin made it 2-0 shortly afterwards. Newry City’s Aimee Mackin had a couple of shots on goal before half time but failed to hit the target.
Sweden continued to pile on the pressure in the second half and it was no surprise when Emma Lundh and Lina Nilsson sealed the victory for Sweden in the closing stages of the match giving the away team a 4-0 win and a 100% record in the qualifiers so far. This was a comprehensive defeat by a team with many World class stars within their ranks.
Northern Ireland have only managed one point from four games in the campaign and have yet to find the back of the net. They travel to the Faroe Islands for their next game this Thursday.
Earlier on Saturday, Scotland who are also in Group 4, maintained their unbeatable run in the qualifiers by beating Poland 2-0 thanks to goals by Lisa Evans and Leanne Crichton.
In other groups, England beat Montenegro 9-0, Wales also took 3 points away to Turkey with a 5-1 victory and Rep of Ireland were unlucky to lose 3-2 to Germany in the 91st minute.
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