As England recover from their dramatic win in Brighton, attention turns to the opposite side of the quarter-final draw at the Women’s Euro 2022.
As a domestically dominated German squad face 13 of the Austria squad who also play in the Bundesliga, paralleled with their geographical familiarity with one another, a tense quarter-final could be on the cards.
The biggest upset of the tournament so far has come from Austria, who knocked out Norway in Group A.
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Their now-renowned press conference celebrations have been largely led by Arsenal’s Manuela Zinsburger, who has impressed on the pitch as a calming influence to a resolute and well-organised unit.
They caused England some trouble on the opening day by being hard to break down, before winning their last two group games without conceding. Going forward, Barbara Dunst has sparkled on the wing, whilst Nicole Billa has impressed leading the line.
Their reward for progressing is facing a German side arguably underrated going into the tournament. They have been spearheaded by Alexandra Popp, who has marked her debut Euros at 31 with a joint first with England’s Beth Mead to make it three goals in all three group games.
Germany dominated Europe for 20 years before disappointingly going out in the quarterfinals in 2017. Now, though, it seems they are back with an engine-like efficiency in the group stage.
Austrian manager Irene Fuhrmann described them prior to the game as having “barely any weakness,” whilst Finland’s Anna Signeul stated they are the best she’s seen them in “many, many years” after her side’s loss to them.
It is perhaps understandable manager Martina Voss-Teckenburg stated before the tournament began that the semi-finals should be her team’s minimum target.
Tactically flexible, the Germans comfortably navigated a tough group. Against Spain, they sat deeper and ran out 2-0 winners despite coming under some pressure. Performances have been consistently good throughout the team, though Lea Schüller’s Covid infection could be a loss.
The Germans will go into Thursday’s game strong favourites to set up a semi-final tie against either France or the Netherlands.
