The posts were not square, but there was a festival of bad luck between the two teams, with the Austrians knocking on wood three times, against two for the Germans. Who ultimately logically won 2-0 on Thursday evening, and will await France or the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the Women’s Euro.
Before the match, the most likely scenario seemed to be Austria hunkering down against dominating Germany, but it couldn’t be more wrong. It was probably to forget that the players of Irene Fuhrmann had already created problems for England in the last minutes of the opening match and had deserved their victory against Norway (1-0), which opened the doors for them. quarters.
Semi-finalists 5 years ago, and with seven holders playing in the “Frauen-Bundesliga”, plus two in Arsenal, vice-champion of England, the Austrians have shaken up the beautiful Germanic machine. They would have deserved to lead with a header on Marina Georgieva’s post shortly before the quarter hour mark, the first of three amounts that cost them dearly.
The Germans found the fault at their first opportunity. On a pressing triggered by Alexandra Popp, goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger cleared in disaster and on the second ball, the side Laura Wienroither delayed too much, letting Klara Bühl escape and cross back.
Popp intelligently erased herself for Lina Magull who arrived launched and easily opened the scoring (1-0, 25th).
A takeable opponent for the Blues or the Oranges
In the second half, it was Barbara Dunst who found the bar by trying to lob Merle Frohms, her teammate at Eintracht Frankfurt, from more than 25 meters (53rd), before Sarah Puntigam, player from Cologne, found the pole, four minutes later.
The Germans were not much happier with the uprights, Giulia Gwinn, served by Bühl, seeing her low shot repelled by the right post (46th), before Bühl herself found the top of the crossbar (78th).
Bühl, alone in front of the wide-open goal, inexplicably missed the target with 9 minutes left in regulation time, but the release eventually came with a goal-gag, Popp blocking a Zinsberger clearance to score his 4th goal in 4 matches in the competition.
The German qualification is therefore certainly not a hold-up. But it has warning value and it could well give ideas to Bleues or Oranje for next Wednesday.