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To tonight, and the two strongest teams in the tournament, the Germans having shown extraordinary strength, if slightly inferior skill, to get this far: it would have been a worthy final. Mind you, disqualification for the hairpull would also have been a reasonable outcome! It’s an intriguing prospect: Spain are undoubtedly and by some distance the team with the highest skill levels individually (2023 World Cup final showcased this perfectly, leaving most of the England squad looking like comparative donkeys) and if they combine this with a good team and tactical performance then they should win. However this has been the tournament in which the stubborn donkeys of Germany and England have seen off some superior beasts, and it’s not been unentertaining! I’d be happy with a Spanish showcase, or a 99th minute winner from a Germany side reduced to 8 women by three first half red cards …
It does feel that unpredictable doesn’t it. We’ll soon find out who can outlast the other.
The Germany coach, Christian Wück, has said his players must “do a lot of chasing” and “suffer” in order to beat Spain in Zurich on Wednesday and reach the Euro 2025 final.
Spain, the world champions, are the clear favourites after winning all of their four games in Switzerland, scoring 16 goals. Germany lost 4-1 against Sweden in the group stage and had to go the distance against France in the quarter-final, winning on penalties despite having had Kathrin Hendrich sent off after 13 minutes.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Euro 2025 semi-final between Germany and Spain which will determine who joins England in the final.
Spain’s campaign has so far been unblemished. Their only slip up was conceding first to Italy in the group stage but they responded by beating them 3-1. In the quarter-finals they faced hosts Switzerland, who held the off valiantly until the second half where Spain comfortably won 2-0.
Germany, meanwhile, have had a more bumpy tournament. They lost 4-1 to Sweden which meant they finished as runners-up in their group. In the last eight match against France they went down to 10 players after just 13 minutes but the team managed to push the game all the way to penalties where they came through the shootout as victors.
Spain will be favourites to take the win but Germany are a resilient side who should be favourites Spain’s toughest opponent yet. Before the team news drops around 6.45pm BST we will take a look at news from around the tournament and what has been said in the build-up.
