Belgium advanced to the quarterfinals as the last team. Iceland was still there before the final round, but had to be disappointed against France. The team’s tournament ended on an emotional note.
All eight pairs of the quarterfinals of the European football championships have survived, when the extremely tight D group of the championships was played to its conclusion on Monday.
The last teams to advance from the first group were France and, as a big surprise, Belgium. Group winner France shared the points with Iceland with 1-1 goals, while Belgium defeated Italy 1-0.
France opened the scoring in their own match after only 43 seconds of play, when Melvin Mallard placed the ball in the bottom corner of Iceland’s goal. The finish was the fastest of these games and five seconds faster than Finland’s With Linda Sällström against Spain.
Malard’s hit was a goal all the way to the winning goal, but Iceland got a chance to equalize in the last corner kick of extra time. French Ouleymata Sarr scowled Iceland by Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir nuri, from which the referee Jana Adamkova eventually blew a penalty.
Watch the verdict and the situation that led to it in the video below.
He stepped on a comma Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, who did not hesitate. Iceland’s experienced midfielder flicked the ball into the upper left corner, and the Icelanders grabbed their second draw of the tournament at the same time.
France, on the other hand, had two goals conceded in the match before extra time after checks by the video referee, i.e. VAR. The second goal scored by Malard was found to be a narrow offside and the second Grace Geyoron the situation brought to the goal as a manual error.
The dramatic match ended emotionally. Iceland and the fans held their traditional chant, which has become familiar in several prestigious sports competitions. After a collective shout, goal scorer Brynjarsdóttir got her son from the stands to the field for a sensitive moment. The boy got to be hugged by his mother and captured by photographers.
You can watch the emotional moments of the end in the video above. The story continues after the match statistics.
Italy fell to its ineffectiveness
The second runner-up of the group was finally decided in the match between Belgium and Italy, when Iceland was unable to grab one more point in their own game. In the end, to the surprise of almost everyone, Italy finished last in their group from the playoffs.
The match was decided by a goal at the beginning of the second half. Belgium Tine De Cagny got to the ball on the edge of Italy’s penalty area in the aftermath of a lateral free kick, turned it on his left foot and slammed the ball hard into the back bottom corner.
Italy immediately launched a fierce attack in the pursuit position, but it did not bring a goal. One by one, the attempts of the blue shirts were shielded either by poor finishing or by crashing into the Belgian defenders. In the end, the Italians were allowed to sink to the surface of the field, disappointed, when after seven minutes of extra time, the referee Ivana Martincic blew his final whistle.
The fact that the team only managed to score twice is indicative of Italy’s ineffectiveness in the games.
The quarter-final spot was the first for Belgium in its history of the tournament. Italy’s sad football year continued with the men’s World Cup qualification. Italy missed the group stage for the second time in a row at the Women’s European Championships.
Delicious encounters in the semifinals
The playoff phase of this summer’s European Football Championship starts on Wednesday. The encounters between the top eight teams will feature a couple of very interesting matches.
The first match in the quarter-finals of the Games will see a battle between the big football countries, when host country England and Spain, who advanced from the Finnish group, meet in Brighton.
On the other hand, the semi-final stage will be crowned by the meeting between France and the Netherlands on Saturday. France, aiming for its first European championship, will certainly want to derail the gold train of the reigning champion.
The quarter-finals of the European Football Championship:
England–Spain, Wednesday 20.7. at 22:00
Germany–Austria, Thursday 21.7. at 22:00
Sweden–Belgium, Friday 22.7. at 22:00
France–Netherlands, Saturday 23.7. at 22:00
England/Spain – Sweden/Belgium Tuesday 26.7. at 22:00
Germany/Austria – France/Holland Wednesday 27.7. at 22:00
You can see all the matches of the European Championships live on . You can find competition news, highlight clips, background stories and competition games, such as the popular Futistietäjä’s opening goal prediction, on ‘s EC competition page here.