Germany beat Denmark to close in on quarterfinals

Germany’s Sjoeke Nüsken and Lea Schüller struck in the second half to fire the eight-time champions to the verge of the Euro 2025 quarterfinals on Tuesday with a 2-1 victory over Denmark that left the Danes teetering on the brink of an early exit.

Trailing 1-0 on a night that saw two key VAR decisions go against them, Germany finally got on the scoresheet when they were awarded a penalty in the 56th minute. Nüsken stepped up and calmly slotted her penalty into the bottom-left corner.

Schüller put the Germans ahead 10 minutes later after a failed clearance by Denmark landed at the Bayern Munich forward’s feet and she swept it into the far corner.

“This is a victory of mentality, we knew it was going to be tight, we were very happy we were able to turn it around,” Germany coach Christian Wück said. “It was the mentality, they really wanted to win, so we love to take that away with us.”

Germany had celebrated what they thought was the opening goal by Klara Buhi but boos rang around the packed-to-the-rafters St. Jakob-Park when it was ruled offside.

That seemed to steal Germany’s momentum and Amalie Vangsgaard  struck for Denmark in the 26th minute when she took a touch before unleashing a shot from a tight angle to beat Ann-katrin Berger.

Germany thought they had won a penalty earlier when the referee whistled and pointed to the spot because of a Denmark handball but VAR determined it was outside the box, prompting more boos from the German fans.

Germany will secure their quarterfinal place if Poland fail to beat Sweden in Tuesday’s late Group C game.

Germany beat Poland in their opener but it came at a heavy cost as captain Giulia Gwinn suffered a knee injury that ended her tournament. Banners of support for the absent skipper dotted the crowd on Tuesday.

Although Gwinn’s loss was huge, the team’s collective strength enabled them to come from behind after trailing at halftime for only the fourth time in Euros history.

Germany have dominated the Euros since they won the competition for the first time as West Germany in 1989. They lost 2-1 to England in the 2022 final.

“I think our performance is good in general for a team working extremely hard, but it’s a very good German team,” Denmark coach Andree Jeglertz said.

“It’s about winning and taking points, and I’m very disappointed that we don’t manage to keep the result, or at least get a point in the end.”