Wednesday night saw Ella Toone and Georgia Stanway help the English pull through in a crunch contest against Spain in the Euros quarterfinals.
La Furia Roja made a bright start to the game in East Sussex, with Mariona Caldentey testing Mary Earps in goal with a good long-range shot. In response, England made a set-piece opportunity nearly count when Ellen White headed home a cross from close range but was a couple of yards ahead of the Spanish defence when the ball was passed.
It was a high-octane fixture which saw both sides press very high up the pitch, and nearly every player on the pitch went down, injured or tired at least once in the game during the first half. After the pause, Spain started taking control and creating better opportunities. They also were winning tackles and duels in the midfield regularly, not allowing England to progress the ball.
Athenea del Castillo was at the forefront of things for Spain’s opening goal, which came in the 54th minute. With a good first touch, she made it into the opposition box and set it up for Esther Gonzalez to score. The latter took a slightly heavy first touch but managed to squeeze the ball into the net. Del Castillo was on the verge of making it two shortly after when her cross-cum-shot caught Earps by surprise.
England tried to bounce back with two offensive substitutions, and Lauren Hemp nearly had a penalty when she was taken down by Ona Batlle. The Lionesses had a couple of good shots saved by Sandra Panos, but the breakthrough finally came to energize the home crowd.
Alessia Russo won the header inside the box to set it up for Toone, who made no mistake in converting the opportunity. The equalizer took the game into extra time.
Just when everyone thought the roof couldn’t be raised any higher, Stanway progressed 20 yards with the ball from the midfield before smashing it home from just outside the box to establish England’s lead. The 23-year-old, who scored from the spot against Norway during an 8-0 thumping in the group stage, made it two goals in the tournament.
Spain continued to create good opportunities in the second half but the final output remained missing. Sarina Wiegman’s side made it to the semifinals of the tournament and will be featuring in the first semifinal against either Germany or Austria in Sheffield on Wednesday.
