The single-elimination phase of Euros 2025 is underway and the nations that will be moving on to the semifinals are Italy, England, Spain, and Germany. Each of the quarterfinal matches served up a decent amount of drama, so let’s go through each of the matches.
Norway vs. Italy (1-2)
After the group stage, I said that Italy emerging victorious over Norway was within the realm of possibility. I said I hoped for it. The football gods delivered and served up big tournament drama to kick off the knockout round.
The Italians came out of the gate swinging. They managed to win the midfield battle for much of the first half and kept a fair amount of the momentum. Italy were aggressive in the attack and got into threatening positions a couple of times.
The first half ended scoreless but you could feel that Italy were just knocking at the door. Five minutes into the second half Sofia Cantore sent a ball into the box that captain Cristiana Girelli toe poked into the back of the net. The stadium erupted and the team celebrated like they had already won the game.
Even though they were up, Italy maybe seemed a bit frazzled after their goal with a period where a few defensive lapses allowed Norway to eventually equalize. First, they concede a penalty kick for an obvious, nonsensical foul in the box. Norwegian captain Ada Hegerberg gave up this gift, though, missing her second penalty of the tournament. She made up for it a few minutes later, slotting a great ball from Maren Mjelde past the goalkeeper.
We could have seen our first penalty shootout of the tournament at the beginning of the quarterfinals, but Italy said “no thank you” to extra time and a shootout with another beautiful Cantore to Girelli connection to seal their win at the death.
Great scenes celebrating the goal and after the game from the Italians who have not featured in a Euros semifinal since 1997. Unfortunately for Norway, their campaign is over but the better team on the day won out.
Sweden vs. England [2-2(2-3)]
They say that 2-0 is the most dangerous scoreline in football. Sweden learned this in the most unfortunate way possible. Until Wednesday night, no team had come back to win from a 0-2 deficit at a Euros. In that sense, the result put both Sweden and England in the history books.
For the first 70 minutes of this game, it seemed all but certain that Sweden were going to advance to the semifinals. Weaknesses that were exposed during England’s group stage matchup with France were on full display against the Swedes. They were disconnected through the thirds and lacked clear communication across the backline. Sweden effectively neutralized England’s midfield and exploited their left side to score two goals courtesy of Kosovare Asllani and Stina Blackstenius before the 30 minute mark.
It didn’t really look like England were going to be able to come back despite them starting to simmer underneath the surface after half time. Long balls over the top just weren’t going to cut it and when they did get into their attacking third, the final product wasn’t there. However, Head Coach Sarina Weigman turned up the heat in the 70th minute by subbing on Michelle Agyemang, Esme Morgan, and Beth Mead for Georgia Stanway, Jess Carter, and Ella Toone, respectively. The “finishers,” as they call themselves, injected a spark into the England squad that they had desperately needed. Weigman pressed “Detonate” by putting in Chloe Kelly for Lauren Hemp as the last of Sweden’s experienced firepower came off the pitch.
Basically instantly, Kelly sent in two crosses in the span of three minutes, which Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang converted. The game remained 2-2 through additional time, which meant that the game would be settled by, perhaps, the worst penalty shootout of all time. By the time the teams were taking penalties, it was probably coming up on midnight, but there weren’t many quality shots between the two sides. Both Hannah Hampton and Jennifer Falk did well in goal, all things considered, but it came down to 18 year old, Smilla Holmberg, skying a must-make shot that sealed the win for England.
Spain vs. Switzerland (2-0)
The host nation’s Euros 2025 campaign came to an end at the hands of Spain. Switzerland came into the quarterfinals as clear underdogs. However, they kept Spain out of their goal until the 66th minute. No other team in the tournament thus far has been able to keep Spain scoreless for that long and to less than three goals. Despite being unable to score themselves, Switzerland played a quick and aggressive game against Spain. The exact type of game Spain hates. However, the Spanish substitutes changed the game in the second half and exerted complete control over Switzerland.
Despite the ultimately comfortable win, both Mariona Caldentey and Alexia Putellas failed to convert penalties in this game. Switzerland did a good job of frustrating the Spaniards, and should feel proud of their run in this tournament. The crowds were behind them and they were able to deliver some incredible moments to the fans. I hope that this tournament pushes the Swiss federation to get even more behind this squad. Players like Alayah Pilgrim, Géraldine Reuteler, Iman Beney, and Sydney Schertenleib impressed throughout the tournament. They have an exciting core that’s ready to take this group up a level.
Spain moves on to the semifinals to take on their toughest competition yet. All of the other teams remaining have faced top teams already, so it will be interesting to see how the reigning World Champions meet this moment in their campaign.
France vs. Germany [1-1(5-6)]
This was the matchup I was most excited to see once the quarterfinals were set, but it ended up being a pretty ugly game. Fifteen minutes into the game Grace Geyoro converted a penalty due to Katherin Hendrich being sent off for pulling another player’s hair while defending a set piece. That’s two games in a row where Germany goes down a player due to losing their heads. Ten minutes later Sjoeke Nüsken scored an excellent header off of a corner kick, which kept the two teams equal for the rest of the game including additional time.
From that point on, the remainder of the game was foul city, players from both teams going down left and right. Nüsken later received a yellow card, which will suspend her from their upcoming match against Spain due to accumulation. However, being down a player seemed to turn the dial up for Germany, while France seemed disconnected. Germany did what they needed to do: score on a set piece and defend for their lives. Unfortunately a French team that had been flowing before the knockout rounds didn’t seem like they were on the same page in the quarterfinal. Germany successfully neutralized Élisa De Almeida and Delphine Cascarino down the right channel, which significantly limited France’s fire power. France did have two goals ruled out due to close offsides calls, but they were unable to put anything away during regulation or additional time that counted.
German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger had a shaky game in their final group stage game against Sweden, but she came up huge against France. Making eight saves, Berger kept the Germans in the game to get them to a shootout. Unfortunately, it kind of felt like if the French couldn’t pull ahead after 120 minutes, they wouldn’t be able to walk away from the penalty shootout on top.
Similar to the Sweden/England game, Head Coach Laurent Bonadei seemed to make substitution decisions to try and win in regulation, but it didn’t pan out. When the penalty shootout came around players like Cascarino, Katoto, and Geyoro had been taken off. Again, similar to the previous shootout, France went out with a young player being unable to convert their kick. It’s pretty sad for France. Another major tournament where they fail to move past the quarterfinal despite an immensely talented roster. Bonadei tried something new by leaving long-time veterans like Wendie Renard, Eugénie Le Sommer, and Kenza Dali at home, leaning into the youth movement but the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” storyline for France continues.
It sort of feels like we are barreling toward yet another England vs. Spain final, which for variety’s sake I have been rooting against. However, an underdog Italian and decimated German squad, may come out swinging just enough to disrupt the competition. Honestly my hopes for that aren’t particularly high. If Germany can triumph over Spain, though, they may end up flying on enough confidence to take down England. Only time will tell.