Will Unwin’s match report is right here:
And that’s that. Congratulations to Belgium, and indeed France, on progressing to the last eight of Women’s Euro 2022. See you soon for more.
Excitement at the end when Iceland grabbed that late penalty – but there was no time for them to find another goal.
For Belgium, they can be really proud of the way they defended against a very talented Italy team. Italy just could not find a cutting edge to break down their opponents – they had the best of the play, on balance, but were punished for not taking their opportunities.
Confirmed quarter-finals
England v Spain (Wednesday 8pm)
Germany v Austria (Thursday 8pm)
Sweden v Belgium (Friday 8pm)
France v Netherlands (Saturday 8pm)
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Full-time! Iceland 1-1 France
All over – and Belgium ARE through. There was no time after the penalty for Iceland to try and find another goal. Iceland finish the group stage unbeaten - but they are out – the first team in a Women’s Euros to achieve that dubious honour.
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Goal! Iceland 1-1 France! (Brynjarsdottir)
A fantastic penalty is hammered into the roof of the net by Brynjarsdottir!
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It appears that Iceland have a penalty against France!
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Full-time! Italy 0-1 Belgium!
For the first time ever, Belgium look to be heading through to the last eight of a major tournament! Even if Iceland score against France at the last, Belgium would still be through. If Iceland got two goals ... well, they can’t, can they?
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90 min + 6: Boattin sends over a hopeful cross. Evrard, who has been excellent all night, gathers. One minute for Belgium to resist!
Italy work the ball to the left of the Belgium penalty area, it’s teed up for Giacinti, but she hits a horrible effort which appears neither cross nor shot. She had teammates lurking in the middle too.
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90 min + 4: Belgium repel two corners. The second of which ends up with Bonfantini, who does well to create the space for a cross, but then it’s a weak delivery. That sums it up for Italy. They still have a couple of minutes.
90 min + 3: Cernoia whips in the free-kick. The goal scorer, De Caigny, flicks the dangerous delivery over the crossbar for a corner. Belgium are edging ever closer.
90 min + 2: Kassandra Missipo comes on for Belgium, replacing Cayman. She immediately gives away a free-kick for handball as she jumps to try and block a cross.
90 min: Wullaert hits the woodwork for Belgium! She hits a brilliant curling effort with the side of her right boot, which has Giuliani well beaten, but it rebounds off the inside of the right-hand post and away!
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89 min: Cayman tried to buy a free-kick under a challenge from Bonfantini. The referee doesn’t oblige. But Italy are often being pinned back in their own half.
We will have seven minutes of added time! That amount of time includes the cooling break, of course.
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88 min: Belgium counterattack, and send the ball down to Italy’s end via route one. Minnaert is penalised for a foul and Italy can try and build something again. They are getting very little joy from this Belgium defence, mind you.
85 min: It’s not long since the men’s team won Euro 2020 but as it stands Italy’s women are heading out of Euro 2022.
Bonansea is the latest to try and get them back on terms ... she hits a low shot but it lacks power and again Evrard can gather. She looks almost distraught with that, and with the fact Italy are behind despite everything they’ve tried.
84 min: The Belgium goalkeeper, Evrard, went down injured and needs some treatment, but she’s back on her feet now and looks OK.
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82 min: Belgum lose it in midfield. Quick as a flash, Cernoia runs forward and plays a good angled ball looking for Giacinti, but Evrard rushes off her line to gather.
79 min: The Italy captain Girelli and Bergamasco go off, for Sabatino and Cernoia.
The departing Girelli looks angry, seeming to kick something as she trudges off, both frustrated with Italy’s failure to find a goal, but mainly (I suspect) that she’s been taken off with 10 minutes left on the clock.
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78 min: Now Giacinti has a sight of goal and hits a low angled shot for Italy, which flicks off an opponent and dribbles just wide!
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76 min: After Bonansea does well to flick a ball on, Girelli cracks over a powerful cross which flicks off Vanhaevermaet’s head. Bonfantini can’t get on the end of it. Both Italian players protest when a corner is not forthcoming. They know that time is running out.
73 min: Bonfantini hares down the right wing for Italy, chasing a pass which is sent over her head, but it bounces out for a throw. This must be a frustrating watch for Italy’s fans. They clearly have plenty of talent in the team but they cannot thread it all together and cut Belgium’s defence open. At least, not yet. There is still time.
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71 min: It remains 1-0 to France in their match against Iceland, so just to reiterate, Belgium will be going through as Group D runners-up as it stands. (France’s Malard apparently had the ball in the net again but the effort was ruled out by VAR.)
And now, as we move into the final 20 minutes, it’s time for a cooling break.
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70 min: Bergamaschi sends over a cross. Caruso and Boattin both have shots as the ball pinballs around the Belgium penalty area. Belgium pull off a number of blocks and eventually get the ball clear.
68 min: Italy throw the dice. Valentina Giacinti, a forwaord, comes on for the midfielder Simonetti.
65 min: Boattin goes in the book for a very strong, some may say reckless, challenge on Eurlings. That said, Eurlings was off her feet as well and it was pretty much a 50-50.
Eurlings immediately goes off (not injured - it’s a planned change) with Delacauw joining the action, with Deloose, the defender, also coming on for Vangheluwe.
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62 min: Giugliano wastes possession in midfield for Italy. Something they can ill afford to do. A couple of minutes ago, Marie Minnaert came on for Belgium, in place of Dhont. She will slot in on the right of their front three. It looks like they are preparing more substitutes, too.
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60 min: It would be wrong to say Italy totally dominated the first half but they definitely enjoyed more possession and looked the more progressive team. As it stands they are going to pay for their lack of cutting edge – which is also, of course, a testament to the quality of Belgium’s defending.
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58 min: Arianna Caruso comes on for Italy in midfield, with Rosucci being withdrawn from the action.
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57 min: Now it’s Bonansea’s turn to pose a threat for Italy. She receives the ball just outside the penalty area, cuts in beyond her marker and buys the space for a shot ... which is straight at the goalie. More good work from Italy.
53 min: Italy come again. Boattin floats in a cross from the left. Girelli tries to get a powerful header on it but cannot trouble the goalkeeper. Girelli is continuing to look for a yard of space, playing with her back to goal, and urging her teammates to find a telling ball either around the corner or to her feet. She is a classical Italian centre-forward and no mistake.
51 min: Bonfantini roars into the Belgium penalty area. Simonetti squares for Girelli, who hits an excellent first-time shot, right-footed, which cannons back off the crossbar! So close! We’ve got a game on now.
Goal! 49 min: Italy 0-1 Belgium (De Caigny)
A free-kick is pumped into the mixer by (I think) Wullaert for Belgium.
It’s half-cleared, and the defender Kees, up for the set-piece, diverts the ball in the direction of De Caigny, who unerringly clips a low shot into the bottom corner.
As it stands, Belgium will finish second in the group and go through!
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47 min: Italy start on the attack again, but again lacking a cutting edge. The newly-introduced Bonfantini does well to turn away from a marker on the byline, and crosses, but it’s easily gathered by Evrard.
Second half kick-off!
Belgium get things started. One change for Italy: Di Guglielmo is off, for Bonfantini.
Can someone find a way through and deny Iceland a place in the last eight?
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Half-time! Italy 0-0 Belgium
Appropriately the half ends with Italy on the front foot, but labouring to break down this dogged Belgium defence. A corner is cleared by Belgium. A band in the stands (Belgium fans, I reckon?) is making plenty of noise but there is nothing too much to shout about on the pitch.
For half-time reading, Jonathan Wilson analyses England’s 8-0 thumping of Norway:
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45 min: We’ll have two minutes of added time.
44 min: Bertolini, the Italy head coach, is pictured looking pensive on the touchline. You can only imagine she is frustrated with the lack of cutting edge Italy are showing here, having had the best of the first half overall.
43 min: Di Guglielmo digs out a cross from the right, down in the corner, with Italy in the ascendancy again. Evrard claims it. Defences are on top.
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41 min: Bonansea now has a sight of goal from an angle, inside the area ... she drills a low shot intended for the far post but it flies wide. Italy are just starting to punch some holes in this Belgium defence now.
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38 min: Giugliano races around in midfield for Italy near the halfway and tries to make something happen. It works. Seconds later, with Italy on the front foot, she has a sight of goal and belts a right-footed shot from distance which is on target but Evrard is able to save comfortably. As the BBC commentators just said, possession is changing hands (or feet) with regularity. There is little continuity from either team.
35 min: Di Guglielmo charges down the right for Italy again and links well with Bonansea. Di Guglielmo keeps going and gets her head to the cross which is floated to the edge of the six-yard box but can’t get power or direction on the effort.
33 min: With her back to goal near halfway, Girelli hits a wonderful first-time curling pass to Bergamaschi out on the Italy right. That was a world-class bit of skill from Girelli – equal parts vision and technique – but the move eventually peters out.
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32 min: De Caigny races into space and over the halfway line for Belgium, but she eventually overruns the ball and it’s gratefully taken off her by the Italian rearguard.
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30 min: If it stays goalless here and the result remains the same in the other match, Iceland will go through despite losing to France.
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29 min: Time for a cooling break. A weather update from the Beeb reckons it’s 35C in Manchester. On the warm side for 8.30pm, let’s face it.
Anyway, this hasn’t been a classic so far, but both sides have created half-chances while also holding their defensive shape impressively.
25 min: Bonansea is released by a good pass from Boattin, slid in behind the Belgium defence. She makes a good mazy run, and hits a shot which thwacks into the side netting, but the referee’s assistant raises the offside flag so it wouldn’t have counted.
24 min: Belgium’s Cayman cracks a cross over looking for Dhont. Italy deal with it. The midfielder De Caigny then takes on an ambitious effort from well outside the box which flies high over the crossbar. You don’t shoot, you don’t score, am I right?
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23 min: “Win or lose, Italy deserve some sort of prize for best kit, with maybe Finland as the runner-up,” emails Charles Antaki. “There haven’t been any out-and-out appalling ones, but if England break out the ludicrous orange strip then that’s the wooden spoon.”
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21 min: Both teams continue to look for a clear opening, but at the moment, they are largely cancelling each other out. Doubtless the players will know that France are beating Iceland, which is good news, but also raises the stakes. A place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2022 is tantalisingly within reach. Who can produce the necessary moment of magic?
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16 min: A neat bit of interplay from Italy in midfield is eventually wasted. But Simonetti tries to get something going in midfield for Italy – she loses the ball once, but almost immediately gets it back, and launches an attack down the Belgium right.
Italy keep the ball well and switch back to their right wing, with Bergamaschi crossing deep to the far post for Bonansea who nods back into the danger area. The ball eventually drops to Giugliano, who attempts a curler in the top corner from the edge of the box, but it’s high and wide.
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13 min: Wullaert now sprints down the left, pressurising the Italian defence. She bends a decent delivery in, but it is tidied up in the middle by the Azzurri. Belgium are now on the front foot after being pushed back for most of the first 10 minutes. Girelli, however, leading the line for Italy, is a constant threat and is demanding the ball to feet from teammates at every opportunity.
11 min: Dhont makes progress down the right wing and wins a corner for Belgium. She takes it herself, but gets it wrong, and it flies harmlessly on to the roof of the net.
The pace of the game isn’t especially high at the moment, which is only to be expected considering the heat.
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8 min: Dhont suddenly has a sight of goal for Belgium after a cross is pumped into the Italy area, but Giuliani deals with it easily after her opponent fails to get any power into the header.
6 min: Linari gives the ball away carelessly while trying to play out of defence for Italy, who are consequently out of shape. The ball is worked to Eurlings, who is playing in the centre of the front three. The 19-year-old Eurlings curls an artful shot which floats over the crossbar.
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3 min: After Girelli’s early shot, Belgium had to deal with two corners. They did so admirably, but they haven’t managed a meaningful trip into the Italy half just yet. Bertolini, the Italy coach, will be pleased with this purposeful start.
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France score against Iceland!
That didn’t take long. Melvine Malard puts France one up in the other match in Group D. Good news for both these teams: if Iceland fail to win, they know a victory will send them through.
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First half kick-off!
We are under way in Manchester. Immediately there is a sight of goal for Girelli, who is in plenty of space near the edge of the area. She curls a good right-footed shot goalwards from 20 yards and it is beaten out for a corner by Evrard.
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Will Unwin is in position for us in Manchester, and has even sent me a photo. Thanks, Will.
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Italy are ready.
Fully charged and raring to go. Forza ragazze 🔋 🇮🇹#ITABEL #WEURO2022 #Azzurre #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/kJheVj4t7K
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) July 18, 2022
The teams are out on the pitch and it’s time for the anthems. I probably don’t need to say it, but the sun is shining down brightly, although mercifully it’s getting lower in the sky and the temperature will be dropping steadily.
A mere 10 minutes before kick-off, the live BBC coverage of Italy v Belgium has now begun. This is on!
The aforementioned Rob Smyth is live-blogging Iceland v France here, if you like that sort of thing. I’ll keep you up to date with all the goals from that one, too.
Also nabbed from the official tournament website – thank you, uefa.com – some thoughts before this match from the Belgium coach Ica Serneels:
“We can really start in this tournament. It will be a historic day for Belgian women’s football. And I’m going to be honest, if we don’t qualify to the next round I will be very disappointed.”
The defender, Laura De Neve, added: “We can make history if we qualify. We have grown in this tournament and I hope we’ll get that confirmed.”
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Looking ahead to England’s quarter-final against Spain, Karen Carney writes that Sarina Wiegman’s team will need to be on-point without the ball if they are to make the semi-finals:
Via uefa.com, some pre-match thoughts from the Italy coach Milena Bertolini: “It’s not the most important night of our careers, we had some big nights at the World Cup, but it’s an important night. It’s a decisive game.
“We’ve improved in the past five years, it’s been a great path, making us more respected on the international stage. Belgium have a lot of qualities. First of all, they have several experienced players. They have quality on the ball and physicality. Like any team, they have some weaknesses.”
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Teams
Four changes are made by the Italy coach, Milenia Bertolini, following the 1-1 draw against Iceland. Di Guglielmo comes in at left-back, Giugliano is on the right wing, with Girelli ahead of Bonansea in attack.
For Belgium Hannah Eurlings, the 19-year-old winger, comes into the starting lineup and they will play an attacking 4-3-3.
Italy (4-4-1-1): Giuliani; Boattin, Linari, Di Guglielmo, Bartoli; Giugliano, Rosucci, Simonetti, Bergamaschi; Bonansea; Girelli. Substitutes: Schroffenegger, Gama, Galli, Sabatino, Bonfantini, Filangeri, Caruso, Giacinti, Piemonte, Cernoia, Lenzini, Durante.
Belgium (4-3-3): Evrard; Vangheluwe, Kees, Philtjens, Biesmans; Cayman, Vanhaevermaet, De Caigny; Dhont, Eurlings, Wullaert. Substitutes: Lemey, Van Kerkhoven, Wijnants, Delacauw, Vanmechelen, Minnaert, Tison, De Neve, Deloose, Missipo, Lichtfus.
Referee: Ivana Martincic (Croatia)
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The Netherlands and Sweden both recorded emphatic victories in Group C last night to move into the last eight.
Here, quite literally, are the match reports for both:
Group D permutations
As I mentioned below, Rob Smyth was beavering away on The Fiver earlier, and was kind enough to produce an oven-ready breakdown of the permutations in Group D, which is below. Who will be out of the frying pan and into the fire? Or something like that.
“France are through as group winners, and will play the Netherlands, the holders, in a humdinger of a quarter-final in New York [Stadium] on Saturday. The other three teams are competing for the right to probably, no offence, lose to Sweden at Leigh Sports Village on Friday. That’s kind of by the by: for all three teams, but especially Belgium, qualifying for the quarter-finals is an end in itself.
“Iceland have two points, Belgium and Italy one. Iceland will be through if they beat France, but that’s unlikely. If it doesn’t happen, either of Belgium or Italy will go through with a win. Where it really starts to swell the noggin is if – and this is hardly beyond the realms – Iceland lose and the other two draw. In that scenario, a 0-0 would put Iceland through (don’t ask us to explain, this is hard enough as it is) and a 2-2 draw or higher would put Belgium through.
“If it finishes 1-1, Belgium and Iceland would be split by overall goal difference, then goals scored, then a sudden-death spelling bee in which players on each side have to spell the word “canicular”. Confused? Splendid. Now all we need are the three digits on the back of the card.”
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Preamble
The important thing to remember as Group D concludes tonight is that France, with six points from a possible six, have already qualified for the quarter-finals. Aside from that it’s all up for grabs, with fourth-placed Italy able to progress, if they defeat Belgium and Iceland don’t beat Les Bleus this evening. Belgium know exactly the same thing: win tonight, and if Iceland lose to or draw with France (as seems likely), they will be going through.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave (which come to think of it would be perfect in this weather) you will be aware of the freakishly hot temperatures the UK is currently experiencing. Rob Smyth’s research tells us that 33C is forecast before kick-off at the Academy Stadium in Manchester for Italy v Belgium, while New York Stadium in Rotherham is expected to be an even hotter 35C where Iceland meet France. There will be cooling breaks aplenty.
Kick-off is at 8pm – why not begin your exhaustive pre-match reading with our interactive guide to all 368 players at Women’s Euro 2022?
