It is best to ignore what’s on paper during tournaments.
A week ago, Germany suffered their worst defeat, falling 4-1 to Sweden (a team now out of the tournament after losing to England on penalties). Thirteen minutes into Saturday’s quarter-final against France in Basel, Switzerland, Germany were down a defender due to a puzzling hair pull, depleting an already decimated backline. On paper, they were at a disadvantage. But also on paper, goalkeepers can’t fly.
Germany ripped up the script and defeated France on penalties to advance to the European Championship semi-finals.
While Germany overcame their prophecy, France succumbed to theirs, unable to crack the quarter-final glass ceiling once again.
Germany defeated France in the last European Championship at the semi-final stage, the only time Les Bleus have made it that far. Since that 2022 matchup, France have gone out in the quarter-finals at the last two major tournaments (2023 World Cup and 2024 Olympics).
“Albert Einstein said that madness was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” said Laurent Bonadei in a press conference before France’s Nations League fixtures in late May.
Bonadei, who took charge of the team from Hervé Renard last year, was referencing leaving out captain Wendie Renard, Eugenie Le Sommer and San Diego Wave’s Kenza Dali from his Euros squad.
But what happens when the result is what keeps repeating despite the changes?
France’s path to vanquish their demons seemed much clearer when centre-back Kathrin Hendrich pulled the hair of France captain Griedge Mbock inside the penalty area. By the end, the moment felt like a different match.
In the 25th minute, five minutes after another defender, Sarai Linder, left the match injured, Germany found their equaliser. Midfielder Sjoeke Nusken powerfully headed in a corner kick past France’s Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
France winger Delphine Cascarino thought she had found the go-ahead goal before half-time when she finished an impressive team effort with a backheel-flick goal, but instead was ruled offside. It was the first of two ruled-off goals for France.
In the second half and into extra time, Germany continued to find their moments, but it was the effort of goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger that kept the score level.
In the 105th minute, the Gotham FC goalkeeper made one of the most acrobatic saves in the history of the game. With France attacking and Berger away from her goal, Germany’s Janina Minge aimed to hit the ball out of danger but instead put it right in its path. And yet with a physics-defying leap backward and an outstretched paw, the 34-year-old kept the ball out of the net with a scoop of her hand. She went down momentarily, nursing her shoulder but return to finish the match, including a converted penalty in the shootout.
Germany will play Spain in Wednesday’s semi-final in Zurich. The Athletic’s Megan Feringa, Michael Cox and Charlotte Harpur analyse the main talking points from the quarter-final…
Gravity-defying goalkeeping
Another quarter-final decided by a penalty shoot-out put goalkeepers in the spotlight. However, the goalkeepers took the centre stage long before the players lined up for spot kicks.
Maybe the real treasure of Euro 2025 is all the penalties saved and missed along the way. Perhaps it was asking too much for two to be converted in one match after Geyoro found the back of the net for France in the first-half.
France goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin saved Sjoeke Nusken’s penalty, injecting an already haywire match with more chaos. Payraud-Magnin could do little about Nusken’s earlier bullet header to draw the game level.
(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
But we must really talk about Ann-Katrin Berger. One, did you see the save? In the 105th-minute, arm extended as she’s falling backwards. Gravity, physics, all of that should say, ‘No’. But the Gotham FC goalkeeper said, ‘Yes’. And she did all match. Berger was quick off her line, sharp in her saves, comfortable on the ball and regularly came out of her area to deal with balls over the top of her defence. She made nine saves, five from inside the box and five being what the BBC qualified as “diving” (a word that doesn’t feel appropriate enough to describe what happened on 105 minutes).
She then denied France’s first penalty shooter, Amel Majri. The 32-year-old went left just as Berger had written on her Gatorade bottle, before scoring from the spot herself as Germany’s fifth taker.
(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
Megan Feringa
Shocking misjudgment puts Germany in hairy situation
What on earth was going through Kathrin Hendrich’s head as the 33-year-old defender reached out to grab a chunk of Griedge Mbock’s hair is beyond anyone’s comprehension. The Chicago Stars player has 86 caps for her country and has played over 300 matches at club level.
Anyone can suffer a moment of madness in a pressurised hot box of a match, but less than 15 minutes into a Euros quarter-final against an opponent like France? Germany’s backline was already red-card ravaged going into this match, with right-back Carlotta Wamser suspended following a red card for handling the ball on the line against Sweden in their final group stage match.
Hendrich’s decision forced Germany’s defence into more tactical surgery: third-string right back Sarai Linder was replaced by Sophia Kleinherne while midfielder Janina Minge moved into a back four as Germany switched to a 4-4-1. Germany’s defence remained ferociously resilient and organised throughout, all while managing to rip forward on the counter with numbers, much to France’s enormous trouble at times. It made you wonder just how good Germany might have been with an additional body on the pitch…
Megan Feringa
Germany finally look solid again
Going into this game, the last thing you would have said about Germany was that they were solid. They offered attacking power in the group stage, but they left their backline exposed, and the defence was dragged across the pitch easily. Sweden took full advantage in their 4-1 win in Zurich.
Tonight, Germany got off to the worst possible start. They conceded a penalty and went down to ten players in the same incident. Their right-back Linder, only playing as Gwinn and Wamser were injured and suspended respectively, limped off shortly afterwards. The game seemed dead.
And yet somehow, the situation suited Germany.
(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)
That was true both mentally and tactically. Germany are, even when not a great side, famously hard to beat. They huddled together and agreed on a game plan. And, tactically, suddenly Germany looked quite suited to a counter-attacking task. Elisa Senss is a no-nonsense midfield general. Nusken is a tireless box-to-box midfielder. Jule Brand and Klara Buhl have been the best wing pairing in the competition and offered speed on the break. Up top, Giovanna Hoffman ran, battled, flicked the ball on, held it up, and won free-kicks to get Germany up the pitch.
And this actually made Germany look — for the first time in the competition — solid. The defenders haven’t become world-class overnight. But they were screened well, they communicated well, they shepherded Germany out wide, and they defended their box well. France barely created anything, and but for Nusken’s missed penalty midway through the second half, this German display would have gone down as one of the great performances when down to ten players.
Michael Cox
What does this mean for France?
There seems to be a quarter-final curse looming over France. They have now fallen at that stage of seven of their last eight major tournaments (including Olympics), the exception being the 2022 Euros in England. Generally, they reach this stage of a competition and are unable to smash the glass ceiling.
(Harry Langer/DeFodi via Getty Images)
Nobody quite knows why. Some people say it is about mentality. If there was a game to test their mental resilience, this was it. France went from the highs of scoring a penalty and an extra player advantage to the lows of two disallowed goals and conceding an equaliser before being galvanised by Peyraud-Magnin’s penalty save.
As the minutes dragged on and they failed to take advantage of having an extra player, it felt like it was just not meant to be. The cruel reality of penalties sealed their fate and in the end, they were simply not good enough on the night.
Charlotte Harpur
(Top photo: Molly Darlington / UEFA via Getty Images)
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