Denmark stun Germany to join Holland in last four

TILBuRg ( Holland): Second-half headers by Nadia Nadim and Theresa Nielsen stunned holders Germany who bow out of the women’s Euro after a 2-1 loss to Denmark in Rotterdam.

Germany, who have won the Euro six times in a row and eight times overall, dominated the eventful game postponed from Saturday because of heavy rain, but Denmark’s counter-attacking was eventually too much for them.

Germany were out of the blocks fast with Isabel Kerschowski drawing first blood on three minutes with massive help from Danish goalkeeper Stina Petersen who palmed her shot from just outside the box into the goal yesterday.

But Nadim put Denmark level three minutes after the break with a bullet header from a cross by Stine Larsen and Nielsen then headed home a cross from substitute Frederikke Thoegersen with seven minutes left.

On Saturday, Lieke Martens and Vivianne Miedema handed Holland a 2-0 win over Sweden.

Euro semi-finalists from 2009, hosts Holland will face either England or France in Enschede on Aug 3.

Martens, playing for Barcelona after spending last season with Sweden’s Rosengard, opened the scoring in the 33th minute with a low free-kick after Miedema had tripped Jessica Samuelsson just outside the box.

Miedema added a second in the 64th minute after Shanice van de Sanden had found her in front of goal with a cross following a superb run down the right flank.

“It was really a great match, it’s a great achievement,” said Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman.

Midfielder Jackie Groenen said the match was “really tough”.

“We had to run a lot but we worked really hard, we worked as a team and we’re really, really happy we made it to the semi-finals,” she said.

Looking at the semi-final opponents, Wiegman said she could not choose.

“They’re both very strong. For me it doesn’t matter who we play, we have to play the best game we can to beat them.” — AFP