July 28 – England laboured to victory over Portugal at the women’s Euro 2017 in the final group games on Thursday, setting up an intriguing quarter-final against rivals France. Hosts the Netherlands and favourites Germany also progressed to the last eight.
France, coming into the tournament as one of the favourites under coach Olivier Echouafni, failed to impress in the group stages, scrapping to five points with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland to finish second in Group C behind Austria.
The English haven’t beaten France since 1974 and lost to the French in their past three major tournaments.
England started the tournament on fire but have slowed after their 6-0 thrashing of Scotland.
England coach Mark Simpson made ten changes to the England line-up who beat Spain and the Lionesses were rusty against the tournament’s lowest ranked team. The Portuguese had previously beaten Scotland 2-1.
In the 7th minute Toni Duggan opened the scoring when she capitalised on a Patricia Morais howler to lob the ball into an empty. Portugal equalised through Caroline Mendes before Nikita Parris restored England’s lead.
Simpson’s charges are the first English team to finish a group with a perfect record since the 1982 men’s World Cup in Spain.
Scotland, the other British team at Euro 2017, were left heartbroken after an unlikely 1-0 victory against Spain. The three points were not enough to progress to the knockout phase as the Scottish were eliminated on goal difference. They had required a 2-0 win.
Liverpool midfielder Weir scored the game’s only goal against the run of play to settle a one-sided match and give Scotland their first ever win at a women’s Euro. Spain will face Austria in their quarter-final, while the two more fancied teams of England and France will face off on Sunday.
Hosts Holland also march on with a 100% record following a 2-1 win against neighbors Belgium in their final group game. On Saturday the Dutch will play Sweden, the runner-up from Group B. Defending champions Germany will meet Denmark for a place in the semi-finals.
The tournament culminates with the final on August 6 in Enschede.
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