Spain beat Denmark to advance to quarters
Thanks to a goal at the very end of the match, after 89 minutes of outrageous domination, Spain beat Denmark (1-0) and qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Football Euro in England, in finishing second in group B. Overtaken by Germany, guaranteed to finish first even before this day, the Spaniards will have the formidable privilege of challenging England, host and favorite of the event, in the quarter-finals, next Wednesday, at Brighton.
Faced with Lionesses (Lionesses) who flew over group A with 9 points, 14 goals scored and 0 conceded, they will really not be favored by the forecasts. With equal points before this match with the Danes, with a largely favorable goal difference which made a draw sufficient, the players of Jorge Vilda still played without calculation.
They, as usual, had two-thirds of the possession, and made the game look like an attack-defense sequence. Their first goal in the game of the competition, on a header from Marta Cardona (1-0, 90th) rewarded these tireless efforts.
Finalists of the last edition, the Danes can regret the 4 goals conceded against Germany in the first match and not having beaten Finland more than 1-0.
Their goalkeeper, Lene Christensen, was irreproachable by stopping with a reflex a recovery from Athenea del Castillo (25th) or on a long shot from Olga Carmona (71st). In the 36th minute, a ball she dropped could have benefited Lucia Garcia, but the danger was finally averted.
One of the disappointments of the first round of this Euro will remain the discretion of Pernille Harder, one of the best players in the world, but who, in a thankless leading role a little isolated, was not enough to compensate for a collective too just. She could have been decisive, however, taking a ball too high in depth when the Spanish goalkeeper had come out of her area (13th) or ideally serving back Nadia Nadim, whose shot was unfortunately too centered (78th). But the Spanish qualification is most logical on all the performances of this first round.
Already qualified, Germany beat Finland 3-0
Germany, already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro, largely beat Finland, eliminated 3-0, on Saturday in Milton Keynes (north of London) during the 3rd day of the group stage.
In this match without stake in Group B, the Germans opened the scoring by Sophia Kleinherne, scorer with a header shortly before the break (40th). Selection star Alexandra Popp doubled the bet, also with a header, after returning from the locker room (48th), then Nicole Anyomi worsened the mark (63rd).
Guaranteed to finish first in the group even before this meeting, the eight-time European champions will face the Austrians next Thursday, avoiding the host country, England, which has also been impressive since the start of the competition.