2024 Women's Under-19 EURO semi-final report: England 1-3 Spain, Netherlands 2-0 France

Spain beat England 3-1 and the Netherlands defeated France 2-0 in the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship semi-finals in Lithuania on Wednesday.

The holders will now face the side that beat them in the 2014 final in Saturday's Kaunas decider.

England 1-3 Spain

Despite outshooting their three Group B opponents 50-10, Spain did not score until the Matchday 3 defeat of Germany, as the defending champions got into gear with a 2-0 victory that took them through. And against the Group A winners, Spain picked up where they left off on Sunday as they dominated from the start.

They took the lead midway through the first half when Daniela Agote ran on to a long ball and, after a kind deflection, rounded Katie Cox and slid the ball in from a tight angle. It was 2-0 just before the break. Following a corner, Pau Comendador pounced to poke home a rebound when her initial effort was blocked.

Pau Comendador celebrates making it 2-0UEFA via Sportsfile

England changed shape with two half-time substitutions and within a couple of minutes had one back as Lucy Newell's free-kick was flicked on by Michelle Agyemang and one of the replacements, Mia Enderby, finished. However with 21 minutes to go, Spain effectively wrapped up the match with a beautiful finish from the left of the box by substitute Daniela Arques, who was played through by Ainhoa Alguacil.

Key stat: Spain are into a record 11th final (though Germany have 11 top-two finishes including in the four-team round robin of 1998/99) and will now attempt to equal Germany's marks of six titles and three in a row.

Pau Comendador, Spain goalscorer: "We are delighted and very proud of the team because all of our work and effort has been extensive and now it has paid off by making it to a European final: it’s huge. I'm very happy to have scored the goal, thanks to the team of course. It was an important moment.

"It did remind me of England in the semi-finals [of the 2023 WU17 EURO, when Pau also scored in a 3-1 Spain win]. To get rid of that anger of having lost [that final to France] and now getting to the final this year, I just thank the team."

Sonia Bermúdez. Spain coach: "What an achievement! The fact is we’ve got stronger throughout the tournament. In the group stage, we had a draw and a defeat. They thought we were dead but this team gave their best against Germany, there is another round to go and so now we go into a final where we’ll want to have the same rhythm, and have a lot of possession.

"You have to enjoy the moment because there might be other moments where it is more difficult to get to a final or even qualify. This is not normal, so we shouldn’t normalise it. We must work hard, look after ourselves and make sacrifices, which is what these players are doing."

John Griffiths, England manager: "Congratulations to Spain, they’ve done really well and qualified for the final. We’re obviously very disappointed, we have a talented group and they'll learn from that without a shadow of a doubt as they progress not only in their international careers, domestic careers as well.

"The players can have no regrets for how they’ve done here, they've done everything we asked. In terms of a nation we understand what it takes us to deliver this level and I thought they really tried. to execute everything we’ve done over the last 16, 17 days together."

Netherlands 2-0 France


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Women's Under-19 EURO semi-final highlights: Netherlands 2-0 France

The Netherlands were forced into a late change when Sophie Proost was ruled out, meaning Suus Verdaasonk was brought in just before kick-off, and France had the better of the early play. However, the Netherlands led on 19 minutes with a goal very similar to their opener against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday as a crossed Jade van Hensbergen free-kick was met by Karliyn Woons at the far post (this time with her feet rather than her head).



Netherlands goalscorers Karlijn Woons (left0 and Danique Tolhoek UEFA via Sportsfile

Sunday's goal had been Woons' first for around six years for club and country but now she was the first Netherlands player to two in these finals. Wassa Sangaré nearly cancelled it out when she headed on to the post but just before half-time a Netherlands long ball was flicked on by Van Hensbergen and Danique Tolhoek, with only the goalkeeper to beat, made no mistake, the qualifying top scorer getting her first of the finals.

France pushed hard in the second half, substitute Naolia Traoré heading off target from close range with virtually her first touch and Lucia Calba having a shot cleared off the line. They continued to camp in the Netherlands half but a Dutch side who have only conceded three goals in their ten-game run, including qualifying, closed out a seventh clean sheet, and third in a row.

Key stat: The Netherlands are into their second WU19 EURO final having won their only previous one in 2014 (when they beat Spain 1-0, just as they did in the group stage here last week).

Danique Tolhoek, Netherlands forward: "It’s a great feeling. We fight as a team, we deserve it, we train hard for it, we believe in this team. It’s nice that we won here and go to the final.

"We played a good game against Spain [in the group stage] but now it's a final so I think its different now. Spain is also a really good team. We have to focus on ourselves and we have to train hard. Tomorrow we have a rest day and then we go to the final. Will there be time for a few celebrations? We'll see!"

Netherlands' Danique Tolhoek on the Women's Under-19 final

Sherida van Bruggen, Netherlands coach: We are happy with this win. I think we did a good job with the team. Of course it got heavier and heavier but I am proud of the team.

"France have so many good attackers but we did a good job. They got stronger and were more and more in our half, but we did a good job, not just the defenders but everybody."

Philippe Joly, France coach: "Congratulations to the Netherlands. They played their game, their game was what we expected: playing on transitions, on physical impact. We had a good game, we controlled the ball very well, we had 21 shots on target which is huge. We lacked a bit of finishing and that didn’t allow us to come back.

"Hats off to my girls, to my squad, because we can’t reproach them for anything, for their spirit, or for the personality they showed. The majority of the girls were born in 2006 ... that allows our group to keep learning and that’s also the goal of these national teams: to allow our girls to keep learning and to keep improving themselves so that they will have a professional career in the mid and long term."

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