Ten-woman Germany reached the Women’s Euro 2025 semi-finals on Saturday after prevailing 6-5 in a penalty shootout against France following a gruelling match which finished 1-1 after extra time.
Alice Sombath missed the decisive penalty for France to hand a last-four clash with Spain to Germany, who will take on the world champions in Zurich on Wednesday.
Germany maintained their record of having never lost to France in a major summer tournament after battling back from going a goal and a woman down in the first 15 minutes to win a bruising encounter in Basel.
St Jacob’s Park was dominated by fierce German support which flocked over the nearby border with Switzerland and roared their team on even after Kathrin Hendrich was sent off and gave away the penalty from which Grace Geyoro opened the scoring.
Sjoeke Nuesken — who also missed a penalty in the second half — levelled the scores 10 minutes later and, after a long battle to hold off France, Sombath’s mistake sent the majority of the crowd wild.
Germany came into the match already missing key defenders Giulia Gwinn and Carlotta Wamser, to injury and suspension respectively, while star striker Lea Schueller was also surprisingly left on the bench.
And the Germans’ task was made even harder in the 13th minute when Hendrich inexplicably pulled Griedge Mbock’s hair while defending a free-kick.
But out of nowhere Nuesken drew a huge roar from the fans when she rose, completely unmarked, to glance home Klara Buehl’s inswinging corner.
From there Germany were content to sit back and hold France off by fair means or foul, and they were saved from being behind at the break by Delphone Cascarino needlessly straying offside before flicking home Kadidiatou Diani’s low cross.
That was one of the few decent attacks France managed to conjure up with an extra woman, and they continued to struggle after the break.
Even when Geyoro had the ball in the net for the second time, lashing home on the rebound after a fine save from Ann-Katrin Berger, the goal was ruled out as Maelle Lakrar impeded the Germany goalkeeper while in an offside position.
And Pauline Peyraud-Magnin saved France’s skin when she kept out Nuesken’s awful penalty in the 69th minute, given for a soft foul on Jule Brand.
But it was Ann-Katrin Berger who made possibly the save of the tournament 12 minutes into extra time when she somehow clawed out Janina Minge’s inadvertant header and stopped Germany going out with an own goal.
Berger could only watch as Melvine Malard shook the crossbar with almost the last kick of the game before the shootout, in which Amel Majri and Sombath both had weak efforts saved and allowed Germany to win against all odds.
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© Agence France-Presse
