Ukraine 1 – 1 Croatia

There was drama until the very end when Ukraine and Croatia kicked off Group 4 in the Women’s World Cup qualification.

Ukraine got the upper hand in the game when Croatia’s Monika Conjar got her second yellow card in the 42nd minute and was sent to the stands to watch the rest of the game. However, Ukraine had to wait until the 75th minute to get the opening goal. Daryna Apanaschenko was taken down in the penalty area, and Apanaschenko herself converted it. Ukraine thought they had won the game, but in the referee’s injury time, Ivana Rudelic wanted it differently as she equalised for Croatia and made it 1-1.

Hungary 1–6 Denmark

The silver medalists from this summer’s European Championship, Denmark, travelled to Hungary in their first World Cup qualifier of this campaign. Due to the dispute between the Danish Football federation and the Danish players, Denmark had a less than ideal preparation for this game, and only arrived in Hungary yesterday.

The dispute meant that for a long time it was uncertain whether Denmark would show up for the game, or if they did, what team they would show up with. The dispute was temporarily resolved and the best Danish players were the ones to play the game - and it showed.

In a messy first half, Nadia Nadim gave Denmark the lead on a penalty after Perniller Harder was fouled in the penalty area. Hungary got back in the game, when Zsanett Jakabfi converted a penalty. Just a few minutes later Sanne Troelsgaard scored a scorcher from distance and gave Denmark a 2-1 lead at halftime. Denmark dominated the second half.  Harder made it 3-1 after 55 minutes, before Troelsgaard sealed her hat trick by scoring twice in less than ten minutes. Nicoline Sørensen ensured the 6-1 win a few minutes before the final whistle.

Croatia 0 – 2 Sweden

In harsh conditions Sweden got their World Cup qualifying campaign underway with a win against Croatia. Sweden dominated the game, but they struggled to get that all important goal. New Sweden manager Peter Gerhardsson had to wait until the 62nd minute before he could see Stina Blackstenius serve a perfect ball in to Lina Hurtig, who made no mistake in front of goal and made it 1-0 to Sweden. It also became 2-0 in injury time, when Kosovare Asllani was quick to react on a rebound after a shot from Fridolina Rolfö

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