Women’s Soccer, July 2022: A Series
This is the twelfth post in a series devoted to the 117 games of international women’s football played in July 2022, covering the final round of the Euros group stage. If you’d like to start from the beginning (or to pick and choose your competitions), you can do so from my opening post. Next up are the semifinals of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Women’s Euros – Group Stage, Final Round (15th-18th)
The final round of the Euros’ group stage kicked off on Friday the 15th with simultaneous Group A games. One was a dead rubber meeting of home nations, group-winners England and eliminated Northern Ireland. Valuing continuity over recuperation, manager Sarina Wiegman made no changes to England’s starting line-up, whose first two goals came late in the first half, the second Beth Mead’s fifth of the tournament.
Wiegman did make her usual introduction of Alessia Russo and Ella Toone at halftime rather than around the hour mark, allowing Russo to score a brace early in the second. Mead created an own goal at 75’ to cap a 5-0 win. England finished the group stage with three wins, a +14 goal differential, and no goals conceded.
Austria and Norway, meanwhile, played for the group’s 2nd-place berth. This game was dominated by Austria, who despite their defensive reputation played on the front foot. At 12’, Laura Feiersinger had a chance pushed onto the crossbar by Guro Pettersen, who was probably Norway’s best player on the night. That’s not to say that Austria abandoned defense, as Norway had just one shot in the first half, and Ada Hegerberg was limited to the fewest first half touches of any Norwegian player.
Austria’s breakthrough came in the latter stages of the first half, when Verena Hanshaw put a long ball into the box for Nicole Billa to head in. Needing a win to advance, Norway didn’t really get into the game until the introduction of Celine Ildhusøy at 64’. But despite a flurry of late activity, Austria held onto their sixth clean sheet in eight matches at the Euros (over two tournaments) to advance to a quarterfinal with Germany.
On Saturday the 16th, Group B similarly featured a dead rubber, between group-winning Germany and eliminated Finland, and a battle for 2nd place between Denmark and Spain. Germany rested four starters, and one of the replacements, Sophia Kleinherne headed in the first. Alexandra Popp headed in another early in the second, her third goal in three games, while second half substitute Nicole Anyomi capped off a 3-0 win.
The simultaneous game was a much tighter affair, Spanish tiki-taka set against a counter-attacking 5-4-1 in a decided clash of styles. Spain looked like they might make short work of it with a dominant opening 10’, but in the next 10’ Pernille Harder had a series of counter-attacking chances which made Denmark by far the more threatening side despite their limited possession.
Spain seemed to regain some measure of control as the half wore on, and were the more threatening side in its closing minutes. Even so, manager Jorge Vilda made a triple substitution to start the second half, bringing on Esther González and Marta Cardona in attack as well as Olga Carmona at right back. The impact was immediate, as Spain looked more energetic and created better chances.
Denmark did have a few chances as the half went on, and with 15’ left they brought on Nadia Nadim and Stige Larsen, shifting to a 4-3-3 that created probably their best chance of the game for Nadim, pushed over the crossbar by Sandra Paños. Spain remained the more threatening side, however. Though they only needed a tie to advance, Cardona headed in a cross from Carmona in the final minute of regulation to secure Spain a quarterfinal against England.
Group C was the only group in which all four teams remained in contention for both advancing or elimination, though favorites Sweden and the Netherlands each needed only a tie against Portugal and Switzerland, respectively, to secure quarterfinals berths. The simultaneous matches were the third and fourth games on Sunday the 17th, the first of two consecutive 8-game days.
Sweden scored three set piece goals in the first half against Portugal, two of them by Filippa Angeldal. After twice rebounding from two-goal deficits, Portugal were unable to pull off another comeback. They conceded a penalty early in the second half, and in the first minute of stoppage time Stina Blackstenius scored Sweden’s only goal from open play to ensure top spot in the group with a 5-0 win that allowed them to avoid France in the quarterfinals.
Needing a win to advance, Switzerland came out strong against the Netherlands in the opening 15’, but after that the Dutch gained control of the game. Lineth Beerensteyn, standing in for Vivianne Miedema up top, still recovering from COVID, looked particularly threatening. Nonetheless, Switzerland reached halftime still level, and with the Sweden result ensuring them that a win would put them through.
Early in the second half, the Swiss conceded an own goal off a corner kick, a recovering Ana Crnogorčević heading her goalline clearance in rather than away. But almost immediately Ramona Bachmann and Geraldine Reuteler combined on a brilliant attack up the left, ending in an equalizer for the latter. Then they nearly went ahead but for a double save by Daphne van Domselaar on Coumba Sow.
Switzerland responded with a double change to chase the game, and shortly after the hour mark the Dutch responded with a double change of their own, shifting to a back three; and 10’ later another double sub replacing their remaining starting strikers. The Dutch looked to be angling for the tie that would take them through, and van Domselaar had a series of important saves to keep the game level.
But then at 84’, substitute Victoria Pelova put in a right cross that Romee Leuchter, another substitute, managed to win against an outrushing Gaëlle Thalmann, looping a header over the punching keeper and into the empty net. In stoppage time, Pelova would score a goal of her own and then provide a second assist for Leuchter, creating a 4-1 scoreline that grossly misrepresented the balance of play. A quarterfinal with France awaited them.
Simultaneous Group D matches kicked off shortly after the first semifinal of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations on Monday the 18th, the second and third games of a second consecutive 8-game day. This was the 3rd hottest day ever recorded in England at 100.8°—though not unlike France’s record for first-half scoring, it would only stay 3rd for 24 hours, as the 19th—happily, a day of rest before the England-Spain quarterfinal—would set a new all-time record high at 104.5°. At the 8:00 PM kick-offs, it was still 97° in Manchester (for Italy-Belgium) and 95° in Rotheram (for France-Iceland).
Though France were assured of a quarterfinal spot, the rest of the teams in the group remained in the hunt for 2nd place. Iceland had a point on the competition, and were facing a French side with six changes to rest starters. But within 44 seconds, Melvine Malard took advantage of her first start in the tournament to put France ahead. That left Iceland still in 2nd place (I believe on disciplinary record), but only if Italy-Belgium remained tied (technically only if it remained 0-0 or 1-1).
France dominated the first half, notwithstanding a pair of set piece opportunities for Iceland, but it remained 1-0 at halftime. Italy-Belgium was a much tighter affair, with Italy looking a bit more threatening in a scoreless first half. But shortly after the restart, Italy was unable to successfully clear a free kick, and the ball was eventually fired home with a sharp finish by Tine De Caigney to put Belgium ahead in both the game and the race for 2nd place.
Italy very nearly had an immediate reply, as halftime substitute Agnese Bonfantini drove into the box and had her backpass squared to Cristiana Girelli, unmarked at the top of the box. Girelli’s first-time shot beat Nicky Evrard only to come down and out off the right corner of the crossbar. Italy continued to threaten as the half wore on, while in the other game, France was even more dominant, having goals by Malard (68’) and Grace Geyoro (88’) were ruled out by VAR (offsides and handling, respectively).
Though margins remained close, time for both Italy and Iceland was running out, especially as they both needed two goals to win (though a tying goal from Italy would put Iceland through ahead of Belgium). Extra time brought chances in both games. At 91’, Tessa Wullaert hit the right post with a shot, and Janice Cayman put the rebound over, leaving Belgium in jeopardy from an Italian equalizer or a win from Iceland. Iceland did earn and dispatch a penalty at 97’ to draw level with France, but it was the last kick of the game, sending Belgium through to a Sweden quarterfinal.
Next up: Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Semifinals and Repechage
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