Winners of La Roja on Tuesday (2-0), at
Brentford, the Germans will face Austria or Norway in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro.
Extremely solid and realistic, Germany beat Spain (2-0) on Tuesday, ensuring qualification for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro and first place in group B which prevents them from facing the formidable England before a possible final. The host country, which will finish first in Group A, is a scarecrow after crushing Norway (8-0) on Monday. Spain will only need a draw against Denmark on the final day to have the formidable honor of challenging them.
Germany will play a match without stake against Finland, already eliminated, for the 3rd day of group, Saturday. In the next round, she will play Austria or Norway if the Scandinavians win the last match between them.
Speech to the defense
The Germany-Spain score will be less memorable than the English triumph on Monday or even the demonstration against Denmark (4-0) on the first day, but the defensive qualities displayed by the Germans against the Spanish also make them very serious candidates for the title. They certainly hunkered down for a good part of the match, but never lost their composure, protecting their goal very cleanly and conceding very few chances.
During the first 45 minutes, there was indeed this wonderful vertical pass from Aitana Bonmati, deflected by Patricia Guijarro in the race of Lucia Garcia who pushed her outside dribble too far against the goalkeeper and only found the side netting (10th). There was also this momentum shot from Caldentey which brushed the skylight (18th) and the superb exit from Merle Frohms at the feet of Garcia on the hour mark.
German efficiency
But overall, the outrageous possession of the Spaniards (67%) – after 15 minutes, they had even managed 100 passes against 16 for the Germans – came up against a perfectly sealed and serene block. Less offensive than against Denmark, the players of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg were however just as effective. From the 3rd minute Klara Bühl took advantage of a missed pass from goalkeeper Sandra Paños directly in her feet and in the area to hook Irene Paredes and score with a cross shot (1-0). And shortly before the break, Germany took on Spain, who had scored 3 of their 4 goals against Finland (4-1) with a header, at their own game, scoring from a corner by Alexandra Popp (2- 0).
Beautiful work and a lot of cogitations in perspective for future adversaries who will want to pose problems for the eight-time European champions.