2024 Women's Under-19 EURO semi-final preview: England vs Spain, Netherlands vs France

The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship semi-finals are set to unfold in Lithuania on Wednesday, with England playing holders Spain in Marijampolė before the Netherlands take on France in Kaunas, the venue for Saturday's final.

England vs Spain

While Spain are extending their record run of consecutive semi-finals to nine – and are two wins away from matching Germany's records of three titles in a row and six overall – England are in the last four for the first time since 2013. The 2009 champions ended that wait by topping Group A, beating Lithuania by a finals-record 10-0 scoreline and France 1-0, either side of a 1-1 draw with Serbia which they earned via a late penalty.

Having lost Evie Rabjohn to an ACL injury, and with Georgia Mullett sitting out the last two games, not everything has gone England's way. Unlike the other three semi-finalists, however, their non-involvement in the forthcoming FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup has ensured no players have been saved for the global competition, and they now have a second chance to add a junior European title to their senior crown, after losing the Women's U17 EURO final 4-0 to Spain in May.

That victory ensured Spain maintained their grip on all four world and European women's national-team youth trophies, but their route to defending the Women's U19 EURO title has been fraught. They were held 0-0 by the Republic of Ireland in Group B despite 29 attempts on goal to zero, and then lost 1-0 to a late Netherlands goal before finding form on Sunday to beat, and eliminate, Germany 2-0.

Only Judit Pujols remains from the squad that won last year's finals in Belgium – also under coach Sonia Bermúdez – with various players off to the U-20 World Cup instead. Nevertheless, several others have experience of defeating England 3-1 in the 2023 Women's U17 EURO semi-finals not far away in Tallinn.

Ainhoa Alguacil, Cris Librán, Pau Comendador, Aïcha Camara and Noe Bejarano all started that game for Spain, with Daniela Arques coming off the bench against an England side featuring Ria Bose, Katie Reid, Araya Dennis, Alexia Potter and Michelle Agyemang.

Ria Bose, England midfielder: "It's an amazing achievement, but now we want to go for more and we can't wait for the semi-final."

Noe Bejarano, Spain defender: "We did not give up and we trusted each other. We are going to continue showing what kind of team we are."

• Spain beat an England side including Mia Enderby, Freya Godfrey and Katy Watson 1-0 in Switzerland to qualify for the 2023 finals and have won four out of five WU19 EURO finals meetings, all in the group stage.
• These teams' last WU19 EURO finals encounter came during the 2019 group stage. Spain won 1-0 through Olga Carmona in a game that also featured Cata Coll, Laia Codina, Lauren James and Lauren Hemp, just like the senior FIFA Women's World Cup final in Sydney four years later.

Netherlands vs France

One of last season's beaten semi-finalists will be going a step further, with France – like Spain – hoping to equal Germany's mark of 11 top-two finishes and six titles. As for the Netherlands, they claimed the trophy in 2014 but have lost four semi-finals since, though topping a group including Spain and Germany will give them confidence that they can match the achievement of Vivianne Miedema, Jill Roord, Dominique Janssen and Co a decade ago.

The Netherlands showed a knack for late goals in the group stage, firstly when Hanna Huizenga equalised in the final minute to hold Germany 1-1 in their opener. Lotte Keukelaar then struck on 87 minutes to beat Spain 1-0, prior to a more comfortable 2-0 victory against the Republic of Ireland. Karlijn Woons broke the deadlock in that game, her first goal in any match in six years.

France qualified from Group A with a game to spare following a 3-1 comeback defeat of Serbia and a 6-0 win against Lithuania. They then lost 1-0 to England and now have a chance to reverse their 5-2 loss away to the Netherlands in a September friendly in which all the Dutch goals came after half-time, with two each for Keukelaar and Danique Tolhoek after Senne van de Velde had made it 1-1.

Sherida van Bruggen, Netherlands coach: "We're looking forward to it. We're happy to reach the semi-finals and we're looking at France. A tough game, but there are no easy games in this tournament."

Philippe Joly, France coach: "The idea behind the [England] game was to keep preparing the team for the new competition that will arrive with the semi-finals."

• Netherlands trio Keukelaar, Tolhoek and Isa Kardinaal all helped Ajax reach the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals last season, finishing level on points with Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage.
• France beat the Netherlands 2-0 in a 2022 Women's U17 EURO play-off to qualify for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. Féérine Belhadj, Taeryne Job, Charline Coutel and goalscorers Fanny Rossi and Lucie Calba started for France against Kardinaal, Tolhoek, Keukeleaar, Daliyah de Klonia and substitute Maud Rutgers.