July 23 – World champions Spain are clear favourites to win their semi-final at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich tonight against Germany who showed great resilience in the last eight but miss key personnel.
The Spanish are chasing history: a first win against Germany, a first European championship final and a first continental crown. They won the 2023 World Cup against reigning European champions England but Wednesday’s encounter will only be their second-ever Euro semi-finals.
“For my experience in the Spanish team in the last seven years, I had the chance to play five times against Germany. We never managed to beat them but I feel that in those five times we were closer and closer to victory,” said Spain manager Montse Tome.
“Today we are in a different point, they are also a different team. But Germany is always Germany,” she added.
Spain will encounter a German side buoyed by their quarter-final heroics against France. The record eight-time European champions played for more than 100 minutes with ten players after Kathrin Hendrich was send off for pulling an opponent’s hair. But they rallied and ultimately prevailed in a dramatic penalty shootout with goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger proving to be the hero.
Germany are short in defense. Hendrich is suspended and Sarai Linder limped off injured against France. Captain Gulia Gwinn suffered a tournament-ending injury in the group stages. Midfielder Sjoeke Nusken is also suspended with two bookings.
“The game against France showed what is needed in terms of fighting spirit, passion, desire and unity. Those are the values that we have to embody and they will be important against Spain, too,” said Germany’s Manchester City defender Rebecca Knaak.
At last year’s Olympic Games, Germany defeated Spain to win the bronze medal. “We all know the Spanish players and how they stand out because of their passing game,” said Germany manager Christian Wuck. “We will have to do a lot of chasing and we have to suffer. We also have to wait for the right moments [to go forward] but these moments will come.
“We have to show our strengths in attack, which we couldn’t really do against France, when we have the ball. We have our philosophy and our principles and how we want to play as a German team and they haven’t changed. We want to go into the duels and actively win the ball.”
Carlotta Wamser returns to the German squad after she was send off against Sweden in a 4-1 defeat in the group stages. Spain manager Tome downplayed Germany’s list of absentees. “[The missing players] is not something we’re thinking about,” said Tome. “We know Germany are always strong; physically they’re very good, as we saw in the match against France. Tomorrow they will field their best team to play against us, just as we will.”
In the final, the winner will play England who once again relied on their super subs and required extra time to come from behind against Italy. It’s the third major final in row for the Lionesses after Euro 2022 and the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
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