Sweden women 1-0 Scotland women

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Caroline Seger of Sweden WomenImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Caroline Seger, centre, headed home an 84th-minute winner for Sweden Women

Caroline Seger's strike denied Scotland women a draw in their penultimate European Championship warm-up fixture.

Sweden, ranked sixth in the world, snatched victory six minutes from time in Vaxjo, having been largely dominant.

Brave Scottish defence, and profligate attack, kept the sides level heading into the final 10 minutes, with the visitors making three goalline clearances prior to conceding.

Uefa Women's Euro 2017 begins in the Netherlands on 16 July.

Anna Signeul's Scotland face Spain, England and Portugal in the group stages.

The hosts made one change to the side beaten 1-0 by the USA on Thursday, with Chelsea goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl returning from injury. The team is the one likely to face Germany in the opening Group B match in Breda next month.

Sweden head coach Pia Sundhage also led the United States to two Olympic gold medals. She and Signeul are former team-mates and opponents from club football in Sweden. Both are standing down from their jobs after the Euros, with the Scotland boss taking charge of Finland.

Scotland made two changes, bringing in Rachel Corsie and Joelle Murray for Jo Love and Ifeoma Dieke, the latter a casualty of Friday's 2-0 win over Romania in Falkirk.

Corsie, normally a central defender, was pushed up in front of the back four as she had been for most of the Euro qualifying campaign.

The first half started in warm sunshine and ended in a torrential downpour. The only constant was that just about all the football was played in Scotland's half.

Despite all their possession in attacking positions, the surprise was that Sweden failed to build on an opening seven minutes in which they could have scored three times.

Prolific striker Lotta Schelin (twice) and Lisa Dahlkvist both squandered close-range chances, one of them cleared off the line by full-back Frankie Brown.

Image source, SNS
Image caption,

Jane Ross, centre, scored her 50th Scotland goal in last week's win over Romania, but saw little ball in Vaxjo

Scotland striker Jane Ross, who scored her 50th international goal against Romania, was an isolated figure for most of the half.

Somehow the Scots held out to half-time, helped by timely blocks by Murray and Vaila Barsley and a second goalline clearance from Brown after 43 minutes.

Sweden made two changes at the start of the second half and three more before the hour. Scotland made two, Jo Love replacing Corsie and Sophie Howard later coming on for Murray in what was a more competitive second period.

Midfielder Seger saved her side by heading Caroline Weir's free-kick away for a corner with Barsley poised to take advantage.

Tired legs began to tell in the final 20 minutes as Sweden went all out to save face. Lisa Evans made the third goal-line clearance of the night, and then Seger rattled the bar with a header before finally getting Sweden's goal with another six minutes from the end.

Scotland head coach Anna Signeul: "We played a good game defensively and learned a lot about ourselves. Sweden are a very strong side.

"It's a shame we couldn't keep it until the end, but of course they were the better team. They were worthy of the win, but we learned a lot tonight.

"We also had to show that we could physically stand up, because we need to compete on that level in the Euros."

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