Women’s Euro 2025 Talk | Sweden and Germany are both into the Euros quarter-finals
Germany had to pull off a comeback against Denmark, while Sweden had a much more comfortable win against Poland as both teams reached the quarter-finals of Women’s Euro 2025.
So Group C is all decided in terms of who’s through to the quarter-finals, as Sweden and Germany both managed the victories required for them to go through. In doing so, it sets up a big clash between the teams on Saturday night, which will surely now be their biggest tests so far considering what they have dealt with so far. Although as we saw, Germany did not have it all their own way against Denmark, whereas Sweden played rather impressively against Poland.
The first game was also filled with a few talking points to do with VAR and refereeing, which we haven’t had to do a lot of at this tournament as most decisions haven’t really impacted overall results. But, maybe we saw one in that first game yesterday that will have caused a few discussions to say the least.
There is definitely a lot to cover from the events of these two games, plus today’s action in Group D is sure to be quite something to watch as England and Wales both face must-win games or face an early exit from the tournament. Let’s get into it all then…
Germany come from behind and beat Denmark
It’s two wins from two for Germany, but it was another game where they would have rued many missed chances to win the game more comfortably, and also the fact that they had to come from behind to get the victory over their Danish opponents.
The main talking point from this game though for some will be on refereeing and VAR as Germany had two decisions go against them in the first half. One was a goal ruled out for offside as Klara Bühl’s shot got a slight touch on Sjoeke Nüsken before going into the net, and Nüsken was in an offside position. Denmark would subsequently take the lead not long after the German goal was ruled out. Amalie Vangsgaard capitalised on a loose ball and scored past Ann-Katrin Berger, who wouldn’t have been happy to have conceded at her near post.
The second VAR intervention was to overturn a Germany penalty after a handball by Frederikke Thøgersen after a cross into the penalty area. However, it was overturned as Thøgersen was outside the box for the infringement. A largely frustrating first half showing from Germany despite having most of the better chances in it. Denmark on the other hand looked like they had shown improvements from their defeat to Sweden.
The problem for the Danes was whether they could withstand the German pressure that was about to hit them in the second half, and in the 56th minute, a mistake happened Katrine Veje appeared to clip Linda Dallmann in the area, and Dallmann granted she did make the most of it, but the contact was there and the penalty was given. Sjoeke Nüsken levelled things up as she hit the ball into the bottom left corner.
Now for the real controversy, because Germany continued applying pressure to Denmark’s backline, and 10 minutes after equalising, Germany were in front as Lea Schüller scored her second goal of the tournament. The controversy however, stemmed from Emma Færge attempting to clear the ball, but instead hitting it right in the face of her teammate Emma Snerle, who then went down with what would have been a head injury, which should then lead to the referee stepping in to stop the game. Yet that didn’t happen.
Referee Catarina Campos let play go on and because the ball hit the face of Snerle, it went into the path of Jule Brand who then set up a wide-open Lea Schüller. Certainly a bizarre moment and one that you think any other time we are used to seeing play stop. Snerle didn’t continue on playing after the incident either and she clearly looked dazed as she was helped off. Denmark tried to push on and find an equaliser, but it never came and now they exit the competition, while Germany advance to the quarter-finals.
The standout player in this one has to be Klara Bühl, who was only missing a goal to cap off a brilliant performance for Christian Wück’s side. She was very important in terms of creating their chances, not being afraid to take defenders on and also what was noticeable was her work on defensive actions, where she needed to help the team out a bit further back and recover the ball to start up attacks again.
I want to just say a word on VAR at these Euros as well as there has been a bit of a consistent issue when we have seen it needed to be used so far, and that’s the length of time it is taking to come to the decision. For me, it’s one of the main issues with VAR, because it leads to long breaks and more often than not, you can’t help but wonder why it takes so long to make a fairly clear decision. It just creates more questions and a lot of confusion. Also if you have been to a game, it is much worse in the stadium when there’s a massive lack of clarity as to what is being looked at. It’s only when the check is over that you find out what it was actually for. I am all for VAR, but it really does feel like it gets so unnecessarily overcomplicated at times.
"It was a very, very tough game for us. It felt like we struggled to find our way into the game, and so we had to work very hard to get the win. In the end, we're just happy to have won. The atmosphere was incredible; it felt like a home game. There were a lot of German fans which made us very happy as they helped to push us on. We could really hear how loud they were."
Germany’s Sjoeke Nüsken speaking after the game
"Germany had some individual qualities that allowed them to win. We have some young players who will have those qualities in the future, but unfortunately we are not there yet with this team. Hopefully, we will be there in a couple of years."
Denmark coach Andrèe Jeglertz speaking after the game
Are Sweden a team to look out for?
Sweden put in another good display as they scored three headed goals against a Poland side, who didn’t have enough quality during the game to cause any major problems to Sweden’s backline. The win has put Sweden in top spot in Group C ahead of Germany by goal difference.
In the first half, Sweden were having a lot of opportunities when getting forward and they registered 12 shots at half-time, but only two were on target. One of those chances on target was Stina Blackstenius making it 1-0 in the 28th minute and arguably she could have scored a hat-trick in the opening 45 if not for being a bit wasteful in front of goal.
It was close to being relentless with how often Sweden were in attacking areas working down wide areas to put crosses in, which is where they were getting a lot of fortune due to having more physicality against this Poland side, who were affording their opponents a lot of space without closing them down all too often.
Poland didn’t get a lot going on the attacking side of things for themselves, and it was a quiet game pretty much for their main threat Ewa Pajor. Because of the scoreline, they were not out of the game by any means as they came back out for the second half, but it was certainly a challenge for them to get out more and try to get her into the game, which in turn could stop the overwhelming pressure that was on them in having to defend Sweden’s attacks.
They had to come out in the second half with a bit more about them and also take a risk or two because of the fact they needed a goal or faced going out of the tournament. However, it got worse for them as Kosovare Asllani doubled the lead and made the task harder of any Poland comeback being possible. Asllani’s goal also meant she is the oldest Women’s Euros tournament goal scorer ever at 35 years & 344 days old. The Swedish midfielder is having a great impact on this team even this late in her career.
The pressure carried on by the Swedes and it was totally dominant from them as they had their eyes on increasing their goal difference. The third goal of the game scored by substitute Lina Hurtig was the one that moved Sweden into the advantage spot ahead of Saturday’s game with Germany to decide who tops the group.
Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani had another top performance as mentioned already, as did Filippa Angeldahl and also Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, who was unlucky not to get a goal for herself in this game after a lot of exciting play down the right side, causing so many problems not just for Martyna Wiankowska, but also the player who replaced her as a substitute Wiktoria Zieniewicz.
Two games in now and Sweden haven’t put much of a foot wrong yet in this tournament, and it’s making me wonder if they are setting themselves up as ones to watch. But it will be the bigger test against Germany that we will see how they match up properly against much tougher opposition. They haven’t conceded a goal yet, nor have they been put under a lot of huge pressure for 90 minutes, so defensively it will be intriguing to see how they get on.
As for Poland, their debut tournament appearance will sadly come to an end after the Denmark game on Saturday. They fought hard to try and stay in it yesterday evening, but it all just seemed a bit too much to deal with, even if they had shown glimpses of what they could produce. Unfortunately, they found themselves in a tough group to come through, but they have to make sure they use the experience they have built now as the platform to develop and establish it as the minimum of what they want to achieve.
"It's not always optimistic or positive. That's the kind of football. I don't want to be harsh. We certainly wanted to score goals and play a little more offensively. It turns out that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and this work we will have to do."
Poland coach Nina Patalon speaking after the game
"It does not happen that often! It was a nice goal. A good win and a good team effort, and now we can put all our focus on Germany and winning the group."
Sweden’s Kosovare Asllani talking about scoring to womenseuro.com after the game
Group D Games Preview
England vs Netherlands
It’s a big one today for the Lionesses as England face the Netherlands, with the potential of being knocked out of these European Championships if they lose to their opponents in Zurich. England are in this position due to being beaten by a France side who were much better than England in the game that ended 2-1.
Netherlands meanwhile, they beat Wales in what ended as a comfortable 3-0 victory for Andries Jonker’s side. It’s must-win for Netherlands as well in a sense, because a win will all but assure them of a place in the last 8.
The hope from an England standpoint will be that there are a lot of improvements from the team after their display against France, which saw them make so many errors, plus they were not good in possession more times than not, and also beaten very easily in wide areas. Because of the wide threats that Netherlands will be sure to offer with their wing-backs, it will be key for England to have the correct game plan to try and nullify that threat. Also, Vivianne Miedema is a player that England’s defence will know about, so they’ll be wary of allowing her to have chances in crucial areas.
Team selection will be interesting from Sarina Wiegman as to whether she sticks with the same team that started the game against France, or perhaps she does switch things up. There are definitely enough players in the Lionesses’ squad who could come in and offer something which will benefit them in different ways. But it also wouldn’t be hugely surprising if she does stick with the same XI and maybe just switch things positionally.
Even though they are in a favourable position, Netherlands won’t be underestimating the challenge ahead of them. It would be surprising if they changed up their team due to how comfortable they looked against Wales, but it will be interesting to see how their back line is tested, barring it is the same back-three that played in that opener.
France vs Wales
It’s an important game between France and Wales as well today in the other Group D game, with France hoping to secure their quarter-final place with a victory over a Wales side that they will be backed by many to beat.
France impressed a lot against England with their attacking threat causing so many problems on the wings with their pace and technical ability, but what was key as well was winning their individual battles all over the pitch, and to be honest you’d be expecting them to do the same against Wales, who aren’t at the same quality level as England.
The big story heading into this one however, was regarding the Welsh team as their team bus was involved in a road traffic accident, with players on board and thankfully, no one was injured. Obviously, some would have been shaken up by what happened, and also good news as well was that nobody in the incident was hurt including the driver in the other vehicle.
It’s an incident that certainly will have had an effect on their preparation for the game, but Rhian Wilkinson’s side will be sure to be switched on come kick-off time, and hopefully inspired even more by their ‘red wall’ support, who will certainly be in attendance and backing them all the way.