Jakobsson prepared for final flourish

Sofia Jakobsson may not remember how she scored her side's crucial equaliser against France in the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship semi-final on Wednesday, but the prolific Sweden striker is clear about one thing: "Now we're in the final I want to win it," she said.

Hammer blow
Les Bleuettes were just four minutes from victory in Minsk when Jakobsson sprinted on to Emilia Appelquist's through-pass, nipped the ball away from goalkeeper Laëtitia Philippe and slotted in to make it two apiece. The strike came as a hammer blow to the French and they never recovered, Jakobsson scoring two more and Jennifer Egelryd also heading in as the Swedes shone in extra time to win 5-2 and qualify for this evening's final against England.

'I was screaming'
The Umeå IK forward has now been on target in each of her last three matches – though none of her five strikes have mattered quite as much as her 86th-minute leveller at Darida Stadium. "I don't really remember what happened," Jakobsson told uefa.com. "I saw Emilia [Appelquist] play the ball past the defence, then I didn't think about anything. The next thing I remember the ball was in the net and I was screaming!"

Selfless performance
Tiredness could be one explanation for her brief loss of memory. Playing as a lone striker, the 19-year-old ran selflessly throughout the 120 minutes, closing down opponents and darting in behind the French defence at every opportunity. "I am very tired," Jakobsson admitted. "I don't play so much at Umeå, but I've played four matches here and my legs are just so tired." She is nevertheless confident of being ready to take on Mo Marley's team in the showpiece: "I'm satisfied with the way things are going for me. I scored three more goals today and that's very nice. I hope this can be our year. We wanted to go to the final and now we are there I want to win it."

Heimarsson belief
Calle Barrling's charges have already played England once in Belarus, losing 3-0 in their opening Group B match, but midfielder Tilda Heimarsson has no doubt the team has improved since then. "Absolutely," the No10 declared. "It didn't go well the first time we played England but we're a different team now. We hadn't really played much together and we didn't know each other well because this is quite a new team. We'll be much better prepared in the final."

Lower expectations
Last year's semi-finalists very nearly missed out on this tournament altogether, only edging through the second qualifying round as the best runner-up thanks to Jakobsson's winning goal against Denmark. As a result, expectations have been lower this time around. "We arrived in France last year talking about winning the whole thing," recalled Heimarsson, who set up three of Sweden's five goals. "This year we only talked about getting to the finals. That makes a difference because now there isn't so much pressure on us. We'll be underdogs against England, which could be a good thing because we like to defend deep and hit teams on the counterattack. England think they know us and they think we're not a good team. We'll show them that we've changed."