England was six minutes away from abrupt elimination at the Women’s European Championship that it’s hosting, but the Lionesses still have hope of lifting a trophy on home soil after all.
Georgia Stanway’s sensational strike in extra time wound up being the difference in a 2–1 win over Spain on Wednesday, after Ella Toone forced the additional 30 minutes with an 84th-minute goal of her own.
Esther González’s 54th-minute goal looked like it had sent a very impressive Spain on course for its first knockout-round victory at a major championship and a first semifinal berth at the Women’s Euros in 25 years (only eight teams competed and four made the semis out of the group stage in 1997), but the late collapse means Spain has now been bounced in the quarterfinals in each of the last three Euros. It also lost to the U.S. in the round of 16 at the most recent Women’s World Cup. England, meanwhile, is onto the semis for a second straight Euros after the 23-year-old Stanway’s ferocious long-range blast with her right in the 96th minute.
