France has ended the team’s run of quarterfinal eliminations in major tournaments by beating the Netherlands 1-0 after extra time to advance to the semis of the Women’s European Championship for the first time.
Eve Perisset converted a penalty in the 102nd minute on Saturday, following Dominique Janssen’s foul on Kadidiatou Diani that was awarded by a VAR review, to end the title defence of the Dutch at Rotherham’s New York Stadium.
The French exited at the quarterfinal stage in their last five international tournaments — Euro 2013, the World Cup in 2015, the Olympics in 2016, Euro 2017 and the World Cup in 2019 — but the curse is over.
They completed the line-up of teams in the semis, where Germany await on Wednesday. Host nation England and Sweden meet on Tuesday.
France have only ever reached the last four of a major tournament once before — the World Cup in 2011.
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An exciting, end-to-end game went to an extra 30 minutes only thanks to profligate French finishing and the brilliance of Netherlands goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar, filling in once again for Sari van Veenendaal following the Dutch captain’s campaign-ending shoulder injury against Sweden in the group stage.
Her best save came in the fourth and final minute of added time, when she flew to her left to tip aside a header from Wendie Renard.
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