Key events
As you already know, thanks to his pre-match and half-time dispatches, Tom Garry was in St Gallen tonight. His final verdict has landed, and here it is. Thanks for reading this MBM!
… all of which means Group C looks like this after today’s first round of matches.
1. Germany W1 D0 L0 F2 A0 Pts 3
2. Sweden W1 D0 L0 F1 A0 Pts 3
3. Denmark P1 W0 D0 L1 F0 A1 Pts 0
4. Poland P1 W0 D0 L1 F0 A2 Pts 0
Christian Wück sent his team out nearly four minutes early for the second half. Germany accepted their punishment, and raised their game after a disappointing first period. Jule Brand scored a pearler-curler, Lea Schüller made up for missing one close-range header by netting another, and Klara Bühl was outstanding on the left flank all evening. Even so, the normally efficient goalscorer Ewa Pajor missed a couple of big chances for the Poles that might have altered the course of the story. So Germany still have work to do if they’re to deliver on their dark-horse status, while major-tournament newbies Poland will take heart from a decent performance against a team that was expected to dispatch them with ease. Everyone sort of happy, in their own way.
FULL TIME: Germany 2-0 Poland
Germany get their opening win as expected. But they were made to work for it.
90 min +3: Pajor crosses from the right but Brand heads clear. Germany launch a counter attack. Hoffmann larrups a wild shot over the bar from the right-hand corner of the Poland box. Wamser, who had ran the length of the pitch in support, was free in the middle and might have a thing or two to say about Hoffmann’s decision-making there.
90 min +2: Słowińska is booked for grabbing a handful of Minge’s shirt.
90 min: There will be four additional minutes.
88 min: It’s been an entertaining, engrossing match, with Poland asking some questions of Germany, and the Germans answering them in this second half. But it’s petering out now.
86 min: Nüsken has another go from the edge of the D. Wide left.
85 min: Cerci comes on for Bühl, who has been the player of the match, surely. She’s been electric.
84 min: Nüsken pearls a long-distance shot straight at Szemik.
83 min: Krezyman romps into acres down the right, released by Grabowska’s ping. She’s entitled to enter the box and shoot herself, but instead looks to thread a pass across to Pajor, and makes a mess of it. Poland will have a few regrets tonight.
81 min: Pawollek and Tomasiak make way for Grabowska and Krezyman. Grabowska is immediately into the thick of the action, curling a cross in from the right. Pajor rises highest in the centre and powers a header goalwards from six yards. But again it’s straight at Berger, who nevertheless tips over spectacularly. Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Pajor has had her chances tonight.
79 min: Bühl again with a dangerous cross from the left. Brand meets it with a volley but can’t steer it goalwards.
78 min: They don’t get it. Achcińska pings the corner low towards the near post, but Pawollek can’t get anything on target. Goal kick.
77 min: Tomasiak barrels down the right and wins a corner off Linder. Poland load the box. They need something here.
75 min: … yet for all that, Pajor will be kicking herself after whacking that big chance straight at Berger. The small margins at the top level of the game.
73 min: Brand chases a lost cause down the left and keeps the ball in play with a feathery touch near the corner flag. She cuts back and nothing comes of the subsequent move, but there’s a fine example of Germany’s more intense attitude since the break. They’ve done really well to respond to their coach’s demands.
71 min: Germany make a triple change, replacing Schüller, Dallmann and Senss with Lohmann, Freigang and Hoffmann.
69 min: Achcińska is booked for clipping Bühl. It’s been pretty much the only way to stop her.
67 min: That goal came two minutes after Pajor missed a huge chance to equalise against the run of play. Poland will feel sick. Słowińska comes on for Kamczyk.
GOAL! Germany 2-0 Poland (Schüller 66)
Schüller makes up for her mistake. Brand, on the right-hand corner of the Polish box, curls long for the striker, who at the far stick, heads into the bottom left from close range. Easy as that.
65 min: The irrepressible Bühl jinks down the left again and stands one up for Schüller, who slaps a header over from six yards. Another egregious miss, and this is getting daft now. Bühl should be raging.
64 min: Pajor dribbles gracefully into the German box from the right. She works herself enough space to shoot, and you’d expect the Barcelona goal machine to seriously work Berger. But she shoots straight at the keeper, who doesn’t have to move. That’s uncharacteristically poor from Pajor, though the run that carved out the opportunity was the usual top-class stuff.
63 min: Bühl continues to be Germany’s most impressive player. She dances in from the left again, and aims a curler towards the top right. Inches wide, inches high. That might even have taken a flick off a red shirt, but she’s not getting the corner.
62 min: Bühl swivels infield from the left and loops a sensational cross to the far stick, setting up Nüsken, a goal on a plate. But Nüsken somehow heads wide right from a couple of yards out. Bühl deserved an assist there, it was a magnificent cross.
60 min: Padilla is replaced by Adamek.
59 min: Bühl drops a shoulder in the hope of getting past Matysik down the left. She enters the box. Matysik takes a handful of her shirt, then shoves her off the pitch in the no-nonsense style. Bühl isn’t happy, and you can see her point. Matysik was operating on the extreme fringes of legality there. A fussier referee may well have awarded a penalty.
57 min: Linder is in acres of space down the left, and screams for a pass that’d release her on goal. But Knaak, quarterbacking from deep, overhits. Goal kick.
56 min: Szemik had no chance with that Brand shot, which travelled at 91.3 kilometres per hour.
54 min: Actually, scrub that, Wück’s still giving everyone the what-for! You can’t really knock his approach, though, because Germany have been much snappier since the restart. And they’ve finally got their lead. In some style, too.
GOAL! Germany 1-0 Poland (Brand 52)
Wück’s not frowning now! Wamser finds Brand on the corner of the Poland box with a pass down the right channel. Brand turns, glides infield, and whips a glorious shot across Szemik and into the top-left corner! That’s a lovely goal.
51 min: … and on that subject, Christian Wück is still frowning and muttering away. A vague look of Jose Mourinho, when he’s in affronted / trouble-making mode.
50 min: A cross into the Polish box from the right. Nusken stoops to head, and claims the ball’s deflected out for a corner. She’s probably right, but she’s not getting one. More German frustration.
48 min: Dallmann swipes a speculative shot wide left. The Polish keeper Szemik still hasn’t had too much work to do.
47 min: Pajor bustles down the right and wins Poland a corner. Before it can be taken, she conducts the crowd with a wave of her arms. Much excitement, but then Berger dampens it by plucking the corner from the sky.
46 min: Poland have made an enforced change at the break, replacing the aforementioned Dudek with Woś. Dudek, having impressed so much during the first 45 minutes, must surely have picked up a knock.
Germany – who were sent out three-and-a-half minutes early by their irate coach – get the second half started. “I think it’s clear that the Polish defence has been excellent, and Dudek and Szymczak especially impressive,” begins Kári Tulinius, who can speak for me. “Beyond that I’m having a hard time figuring out if Germany have been made to look ordinary by the Poles, or they’re simply not as good as I was expecting. The Eaglesses have been able to glide through the German midfield without even ruffling their feathers.”
More half-time entertainment … and Peter Oh has broken into song. Or, more specifically, the still-relevant Polish national anthem.“🎼♯ Poland has not yet succumbed!!! 🎶🎶”
Our man Tom Garry, star of pod and screen, is back with another dispatch from Arena St Gallen. And it sounds like we had it right earlier, with Germany due to be given some beneficial tactical advice in the direct style during the break.
The Poland fans inside the stadium seem delighted with that half-time scoreline, and understandably so. Many of them raised both fights in the air as the whistle sounded. Their team have executed their gameplan superbly, so far. The German coach Christian Wück does not look happy with his team at all.
Half-time entertainment. Faye Carruthers is joined by Tom Garry, Sophie Downey and Tim Stillman, who run the rule over the opening games and preview England and Wales’ first matches. Get on it!
HALF TIME: Germany 0-0 Poland
There’s just enough time for Dudek, who has been staunch in defence for Poland, to head one last German corner clear, then the whistle goes for the half-time break. Poland have done exceptionally well to hold Germany at arm’s length. Germany have been blunt up front, but unlucky as well, losing their captain Gwinn to injury.
45 min +3: Bühl, who has been Germany’s best player by far, cuts in from the left before feeding Dallmann down the channel. Dallmann crosses and finds Schüller eight yards out. A big chance, but Schüller scuffs it dismally wide right.
45 min +2: It’s Dudek versus Schüller again, but this time the striker wins the duel, drawing a foul just to the right of the D. Bühl fancies this. She aims a curler towards the top-left corner, but Szemik has it covered as it flies harmlessly over the bar.
45 min: There will be four additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Bühl charges down the left again. She crosses for Schüller, who hopes to head home from six yards, but is cleverly eased out of the way by Dudek. On the German bench, coach Wück continues to fume quietly. The quiet fume is the most worrying grade of fume, so expect him to tell it as he sees it to his misfiring team during the break.
43 min: Bühl dribbles down the left. She wins another German corner, and swings it in herself. It nearly finds Schüller at the far stick, but the ball drops kindly for Wiankowska, who hoicks clear.
41 min: Poor Gwinn, that was hard to watch. She’s replaced by Wamser.
39 min: … but Gwinn goes down again immediately. Crumbling to the floor … and dissolving in tears. She knows there’s something wrong. She can’t continue. She caught her studs in the turf making that challenge on (the entirely innocent) Pajor, but it’s not clear whether that’s another knee problem or a groin issue. Either way, the German captain is in real distress, and is helped off in tears. Awful scenes for a player who has had such rotten luck with serious injury in the past.
38 min: Pajor looked slightly concerned for a moment there, as Gwinn stayed down, looking in some pain. Gwinn has suffered torn cruciate ligaments in both knees during her career, so it’s an understandable reaction. Gwinn gets up and hobbles off, and comes back on …
36 min: Tomasiak advances down the right, checks back, and whips a dangerous ball towards the far stick. It’s turned out for a corner, which leads to some head tennis. The ball’s half cleared, then Padilla rolls a pass down the middle for Pajor, who can’t get a shot away due to Gwinn’s slide tackle. Berger gathers, but Gwinn’s hurt herself while extending a leg. On comes the physio.
34 min: Dudek cops Schüller’s elbow on the bridge of the nose. Completely accidental. Play’s stopped for a minute, but thankfully the Polish defender hasn’t suffered too much, and once it’s clear blood hasn’t been drawn, she’s fine to continue.
