England reached the final hurdle in its quest for a first European Championship after defeating Sweden 4-0 Tuesday at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Goals from Beth Mead, Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Fran Kirby punched the Lionesses ticket to the final Sunday at Wembley, where they'll meet the winner of Wednesday's match between Germany and France.
France advanced to the semifinals of the UEFA women’s Euro on Saturday after defeating the Netherlands 1-0. It took 102 minutes and the team’s 24th shot of the game before the French could find the back of the Dutch net.
The Netherlands deserves all the recognition in the world for one of the most valiant defensive performances ever seen. France might have been without star striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto, but the team still had an onslaught of an attack.
It took 33 shots, but Sweden finally found the back of the net.
After peppering the Belgium goal with dozens of shots — nine saved by Nicky Evrard — Sweden broke through in the 92nd minute to secure a 1-0 win and book its spot in the Euro 2022 semifinals on Friday at Leigh Sports Village.
Defender Linda Sembrant, in her first start of the tournament, kicked home the stoppage time winner to send the No. 2 team in the world into a semifinal against host England on Tuesday at Bramall Lane. Sembrant’s shot was the 33rd of the match for Sweden.
It’s not often a fullback gets the hook for defending so poorly. It’s even rarer for such a move to completely flip the script in a major match.
Sarina Wiegman’s decision to replace the struggling Rachel Daly in the 82nd minute helped spark a remarkable comeback as England beat Spain 2-1 in extra time in the 2022 Women’s Euro quarterfinals on Wednesday in Brighton.
The Netherlands, after playing with fire and group stage elimination at Euro 2022, reeled off three goals in the final minutes to turn a precarious 1-1 scoreline against Switzerland into an emphatic victory on Sunday, although the reward of passage to the quarterfinals is sobered by the fact that it's France lying in wait.
Playing again without star striker Vivianne Miedema — who was still experiencing Covid symptoms — the Dutch looked much less than the sum of their parts against a stubborn Swiss defense that threatened on the attack through the dazzling feet of Ramona Bachmann.
Spain secured its spot in the Women's Euro quarterfinals and has a date with England after defeating Denmark 1-0 on Saturday.
The final group stage game of Group B saw Spain and Denmark enter the match level on three points. Spain had the goal difference advantage therefore only needing a draw to advance. The stats might show that Spain dominated in possession with 75%, but the victory was anything but straight-forward.
Denmark had its chances tallying 10 shots and had the Spaniards on the ropes at several points throughout the game.
Defending European champion the Netherlands avoided a disastrous draw with Portugal on Wednesday after throwing away a two-goal lead thanks to an exceptional 20-yard strike from Daniëlle van de Donk that proved the match-winner, 3-2.
After conceding in the first minute of its opener against Finland last week, Spain knew it couldn’t afford a similar slipup in its second match against Germany on Tuesday. And yet, it happened again thanks to an awful howler in the third minute.
An errant attempt from Spain keeper Sandra Paños to play out of the back resulted in a gift of a goal for Germany in a 2-0 win for Die Nationalelf on Tuesday in London. In a tale of two keepers, Spain’s Paños had a night to forget while Germany’s Merle Frohms was unbeatable.
In Norway, this sort of sporting crisis is typically only reserved for news of Sweden making inroads on Olympic medals in cross-country skiing. But on Monday, Norway's proud women's national team — one of the few to have won a continental title, a World Cup and Olympic gold — suffered the worst defeat in European Championship history: an 8-0 capitulation to England in Brighton.
It was supposed to be one of the standout matches of the Euro 2022 group stage. If it had been boxing, the referee would have called the match off in the first half.
England flexed its offensive muscles with a barnstorming win over Norway, eviscerating the 11th-ranked team in the world by a startling 8-0 score line on Monday at Amex Stadium. It was one of the most impressive performances in recent Euro history, with England scoring six in the first half alone. Beth Mead had a hat trick, Ellen White netted a brace and three other players scored to tear Norway to shreds.