BERN, Switzerland — Spain are into the semifinals of the women’s European Championships after winning a knockout game at the tournament for the first time. It sounds remarkable and unbelievable, but it’s true. La Roja, the current world champions and favorites to lift the Euros trophy in Basel later this month, had never previously managed it. Now, after finally seeing off the hosts, a stubborn Switzerland side who benefited from superb support at Wankdorf Stadium, they have.
“You have to value these moments,” midfielder Aitana Bonmatà said after the 2-0 win. “Sometimes it seems we’re obliged to win every game 6-0. We stayed calm today, were confident and patient. We are in the last four and we have made history for the country by getting there.”
It was uncomfortable at times. Mariona Caldentey missed an early penalty and they hit the woodwork three times. With over an hour gone, the miracle the whole of Switzerland was dreaming of was still on, but two goals in five minutes from substitute Athenea del Castillo, who collected a sublime Bonmatà backheel, and Claudia Pina ensured there would be no upset.
There was still time for Alexia Putellas to miss another penalty for Spain, too, highlighting that there are areas where Montse Tomé’s side can improve ahead of a semifinal against either France or Germany in Zurich on Wednesday.
That game may be tighter, and accuracy from the spot may be needed. Those are the fundamentals that can win tournaments, although Spain do not stand alone in having a poor penalty record. Including Ada Hegerberg’s miss when Norway lost to Italy and the nine missed in the shootout between England and Sweden, 12 of 17 penalties have not hit the net in the three quarterfinals played.
It may have been an easier evening if Caldentey had converted the penalty she won in the eighth minute. That miss was celebrated like a goal by the 29,734-sellout crowd, and you could feel the energy it injected into the hosts’ team.
The tireless Géraldine Reuteler snapped into challenges alongside captain Lia Wätli, the pair intercepting passes as Spain grew frustrated. The chances they did get were easily saved by Livia Peng, and when Irene Paredes and Patri Guijarro hit the woodwork either side of halftime, there was a genuine feeling in the air of They couldn’t, could they?
They couldn’t.
Tomé turned to the bench, and the impact was almost instant. Del Castillo’s first involvement was to race into the box, collect a Bonmatà flick and finish coolly in the 66th minute. Pina then killed the tie five minutes later with a moment she has been practicing for since she was a kid.
The Barcelona forward told a story this week of how she would spend hours on her terrace at home, a bib hung up on a makeshift goal, taking aim. “Dad tells me I would just shoot, shoot and shoot all day,” she said.
It certainly paid off, as there are few players you would back to score with such certainty when you see them cutting in from the left and shaping to curl the ball toward the top corner. She already scored a similar goal against Belgium and now has two in this tournament.
“When she makes that move inside, I think it’s going to be a goal,” Spain coach Tomé said. “When she gets the ball, drives and sets up like that, planting her left foot … we think it’s going in.”
Putellas then missed a penalty won by Del Castillo late on, with the Swiss reduced to 10 players in stoppage time — Noelle Maritz saw red as their story at this Euros came to an end.
That had been the narrative before the game. Coach Pia Sundhage had made a point of telling “stories” to her players: of Switzerland’s men beating Spain 1-0 at the 2010 World Cup and of the “Miracle of Bern,” the 1954 World Cup final which ended up with West Germany beating a Hungary side they had just lost 8-3 to a week before.
Sundhage’s storytelling could not provide a finale like them, but the impact could yet be just as big in terms of women’s football in Switzerland. The scenes before, during and after the game induced goose bumps. Around 20,000 Swiss fans clad in red took part in the fan walk to the ground from Bundesplatz in the city center, over the bridge crossing the River Aare and arriving at Wankdorf Stadium in a journey that took over an hour.
They then belted out the anthem, and the majority were still in the stadium half an hour after the game, a huge banner reading “Time to move mountains” hanging from the stands as Spain’s players gave their counterparts a guard of honor off the pitch.
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“I am disappointed that I have to go back home,” Sundhage said. “The atmosphere in the locker room and the first half tells me this is a good team. But Spain are world champions. We tried. That is the most important thing.
“I am also very proud of Switzerland. If you look at the people coming to the games, it’s been phenomenal. It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime feeling, very emotional. And they didn’t leave! They stayed. That shows me there are people in Switzerland who think that women’s football is important and I am very grateful for that.
“This is, I feel, a takeoff. We lost the game, but I think at some point we are winning a positive attitude for women’s football. Some players are sad, some disappointed, but if you give us time, I think all of us will be proud of how we continued the journey.”
Spain’s journey continues, and with more ground broken, as they go where they have never been before in the Euros. There is no time for them to dwell on that, though, with more history to write on Wednesday.
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