“When you win, you recover faster and faster,” said France’s soccer team manager Corinne Diacre, referring to the EURO semi-finals on Wednesday (9 p.m., ORF 1) in Milton Keynes against the German team, who went 2-0 down after the victory over Austria has a two-day longer regeneration time. The Equipe tricolore also had to work overtime, with the 1-0 after extra time the fifth in the world rankings dethroned the Netherlands, who had triumphed in 2017 with home advantage.
The “golden goal” came from a penalty, which Eve Perisset converted in the 102nd minute. Actually, she wasn’t supposed to be the shooter, but captain Wendie Renard decided not to compete – and was then praised over the green clover by Diacre. “It took all of the experience, the wisdom of Wendie, to let Eve take the penalty. That doesn’t come naturally.”
Renard is the outstanding figure in the French team, the 32-year-old defender not only has 102 European Cup matches (more than any other) in her legs, she also led Olympique Lyon to triumph in the Champions League this year. So she knows how to win big titles. It remains to be seen whether the time is right for the national team, who were among the favorites even before the tournament started. Now it’s time to succeed in the first EURO semi-final in the country’s history.
In any case, a gauntlet run to Milton Keynes awaits the fans from France and Germany. Traveling by train is not possible because the railway company has called a strike for Wednesday.
Be that as it may: The German national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg expects – as against Austria – a duel on an equal footing. “France are a tough opponent with enormous quality in transition moments and fantastic individual players with a lot of speed.”
Already tomorrow (9 p.m., ORF 1) the first semi-final takes place in Sheffield, in which the hosts from England are favored against Sweden. The “Lionesses” unleashed a wave of euphoria with the 2-1 victory over the ball possession queens from Spain, the Scandinavians saved themselves a nerve-wracking extra time by beating Belgium 1-0 at the last second. (Alex)
Source: Nachrichten
