The semi-final teams of the European football championships have been decided. England will meet Sweden and Germany will face France, who knocked out the previous European Championship champion Holland in the quarter-finals on Saturday night.
The young Dutch goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar kept France’s European championship curse alive with his top saves, but even that did not save the reigning European champions, the Netherlands, this time to the semi-finals.
The 22-year-old goalkeeper from Twente was substituted in the opening match of the European Championships, when Holland’s number one goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal was injured while chasing the ball after colliding with his team’s defender. Van Domselaar had played exactly one international match before the European Championships.
France were early favorites for Saturday night’s quarter-finals, but they had the aforementioned EC curse to break. France had previously played three times in the quarter-finals of the European Championship, but had never progressed beyond that. In the 2009 European Championship in Finland, France lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, then only in a penalty shootout.
In addition, France had fallen in the quarterfinals at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and the World Championships in 2015 and 2019. France’s five previous prestigious tournaments had ended in the quarterfinals.
France created great chances throughout the match, but van Domselaar made a lot of great saves. Although ball control in the match was recorded at 50–50, scoring attempts went to France 33–9 and bets towards the goal 11–1.
You can watch one of van Domselaar’s important saves below. He stretched By Wendie Renard to the header during extra time of the actual match.
The level difference is even bigger than expected, according to the French newspapers
Van Domselaar became the tournament’s first goalkeeper to make at least ten saves. Earlier in this tournament, the most saves in one game had come from Helmareit For Tinja-Riikka Korpelawho got in the way of the ball nine times against Spain, even though Finland lost 1–4.
From France, they missed so many goals Delphine Cascarino, Grace Geyoro like topper Renard, who rose to the top in several corner kicks. France’s number one striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto was injured in the Belgium match of the first group, and at times it seemed that that absence might be decisive for the medal game dreams of France, which is third in the Fifa rankings.
The Netherlands were not considered as strong as they were in their golden European Championship home games of 2017, especially when the star striker Flame Martens had to sideline due to injury in the middle of the games. Instead, the striker who scored two goals in the 2017 EC final Vivianne Miedema returned to action against France after being on the sidelines due to corona infection.
French newspaper L’Equipe wondered (you switch to another service) however, the level difference was even bigger than expected in France’s favor – only the finish was exhausted. Le Monde by (you switch to another service) France head coach Corinne Deacon stated after the match that the opposition had “an exceptional goalkeeper, but tonight our persistence was rewarded”.
Domselaar was naturally disappointed and had not realized immediately after the match that the tournament was over for Holland.
– The tournament was like a roller coaster, but we just kept going up. It was getting better all the time. I feel like I’m at my best. I would love to play for three more weeks if it was possible.
The VAR decision and the referee decided
The decision of the semi-final and the winning goal were seen when the overtime match had been played for ten minutes. Kadidiatou Diani ran into a vertical pass and Dominique Janssen tackled him from behind to reverse. The Croatian referee of the match Ivana Martincic did not react directly, but stayed to listen to the view of the video jury. Martincic went to check the situation on the video screen himself and ordered the ball to the penalty spot.
The ball was buried in the goal by a tough winger Eve Périsset. Van Domselaar guessed right, but didn’t get his hands between them enough.
See the situation and the goal that led to the ruckus in the video that is the main picture of the story.
Toppari also made two big saves – France’s goal was hardly threatened
The first half of the quarter-final went completely under the command of France. France had 12 shots in the opening half, five of which went on target. Holland managed one shot that missed the goal.
A few times the French got really close, but van Domselaar and the topper Stefanie van der Gragt act as their team’s last locks.
After 27 minutes had been played, Delphine Cascarino’s fine volley hit the post after a corner kick.
Ten minutes later, topper van der Gragt saved the ball from the goal line when Melvin Mallard was able to shoot from an open spot towards the goal.
A few minutes from now, van der Gragt was in the way of the ball again, this time blocking Grace Geyoro’s top spot.
The Netherlands improved in the second half, but the best place to score was the corner kick seen at the beginning of the period, which went to Miedema. This company took off to great heights.
Geyoro got the closest to the goal from France in the second half, when Cascarino’s button cross found him at the back post. However, the PSG striker couldn’t get the ball between the goalposts. Van Domselaar, on the other hand, blocked several Renard headers in special situations.
However, there was a follow-up match for the second time in the quarterfinals of these games. The first quarter-final between England and Spain had previously been extended to the next match, when Georgia Stanway decided the semi-final spot for the hostesses with his long shot.
After France’s penalty kick, the tired Netherlands couldn’t quite get their bearings – France’s second goal from several counterattacks was closer.
Semi-finals on Tuesday and Wednesday
France’s results in the first group of the European Championship had been declining. It started with a 5-1 drubbing of Italy, followed by a narrow 2-1 win over Belgium. In the last group game, France drew 1–1 with Iceland, but had of course already secured the group victory and spared their players.
Now France has broken its quarter-final curse and will face Germany in the semi-final on Wednesday, July 27. On Tuesday the 26th, England will face Sweden in the semi-finals. Both matches start at 10 pm and can be seen live on channels. The final will be played at Wembley on Sunday 31 July.