England wins the first quarter finals of the tournament against SpainÂ
image source: sky sports
The first quarter final, England against Spain was very spectacular and a long game, lasting almost up to 120 minutes. With Ella Toone’s late equalizer, England was still in the game. After 90 minutes of play, tied 1-1; extra time was required to decide the outcome. Then in the extra time Georgia Stanway scored the winning goal, with a stunning shot.
France vs Netherlands
If France’s biggest competitors in this competition were themselves They thrashed Italy 5-1 in their tournament opener before utterly dominating Belgium, despite the final score of 2-1. They moved forward without difficulty, despite a few warnings. Grace Geyoro has scored three goals thus far (all against Italy), while the rest of the team has only managed five. This suggests that finishing has been a bit of an issue. While this is happening, the opposition has taken 24 shots; of the eight quarter finalists, only the Netherlands and Belgium have given up more, albeit a sizable amount of that total was produced by Iceland.
This suggests what might potentially be a complete track meet against Netherlands in the quarter finals, but it also serves as a reminder of how strong France’s group was.
Germany
Between 1989 and 2013, Germany won this competition eight out of nine times, and they also won the World Cup twice during that time. More recently, they took home the Olympic gold medal (2016) and advanced to the World Cup semifinals (2015).
Germany won by making the most of their opportunities, but the strategy may not have been long-lasting. They would theoretically only need to defeat two of the top favorites to win the tournament instead of three because they play Austria in the quarter finals, one of the two teams with odds and rankings much lower than those of the big six. That may be the main factor in their status as literally co-favorites.
However, there’s no denying that in recent tournaments, their level has decreased. Both the Euro 2017 (to Denmark) and the 2019 World Cup (to Sweden) quarter final losses were by 2-1 score line, and the World Cup defeat stopped them from reaching the 2020 Olympics. Additionally, they had drawn with Spain and lost to Canada, England, and, more worrisomely, Serbia in their six 2022 pre-Euro fixtures.
Who takes the Golden boot ?
One of England’s players will undoubtedly get the Golden Boot award if they win the game and bring home the trophy. When the most recent Euros were held in the Netherlands in 2017, England was defeated by the hosts in the semifinals, but forward Jodie Taylor finished the tournament with the most goals, five.
This time around, Beth Mead of Arsenal is in the lead after scoring five goals in the first three games, including a hat-trick against Norway. She has also provided three assists. Alessia Russo of Manchester United has scored three goals in just 110 minutes of play—all of them as a substitute—while Grace Geyoro of France has the same total after scoring a hat-trick against Italy.
Alexandra Popp of Germany scored a goal in each of the group games to move her to three goals overall despite missing the previous two Euros due to injury. She just fully recovered from a significant knee injury near the end of the domestic season.
By Aditya Singh
