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Netherlands swept England aside 3-0 on Thursday to reach their first Women's European Championship final and set up a showpiece encounter against Denmark.
Arsenal duo Vivianne Miedema and Danielle van de Donk and Millie
Bright's own goal handed hosts Netherlands a 3-0 win over England in the
women's Euro semi-final at Enschede.
In Sunday's final, the Netherlands will face Denmark, who beat Austria
3-0 on penalties after a goalless draw at Breda.
Miedema opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a header across the
goal from Jackie Groenen's cross which keeper Siobhan Chamberlain could only
watch sink into the goal at her left post.
Van de Donk chipped the ball over Chamberlain in the 62nd minute after
picking up a loose back pass from England midfielder and Arsenal teammate Fara
Williams.
Bright deflected Lieke Martens's shot into her own net in the stoppage
time to round off the score.
"It felt really great, it's amazing," beamed Dutch coach
Sarina Wiegman, whose team beat Denmark 1-0 in the group phase.
"I think Denmark is one of the best teams at this tournament and
I'm not surprised that they made it to the finals so we really expect a very
good team against us on Sunday."
Denmark edged Austria who missed four penalties on the night in total as
Sarah Puntigam fired over from the spot in the 13th minute following Maja
Kildemoes' handball.
In the shoot-out, Laura Feiersinger blasted her penalty over while
Viktoria Pinther and Verena Aschauer were denied by Danish keeper Stina
Petersen.
"It was a very long match, it made me get older," said Denmark
coach Nils Nielsen.
"Austria played a beautiful tournament, but I'm delighted we ended
up winners and I think it was deserved."
England had several chances but Jade Moore saw her header cleared onto
the post off the goal line in the 26th minute.
Dutch keeper Sari van Veenendaal, another Arsenal player on the pitch,
stopped shots by Ellie White and Arsenal's Jodie Taylor, who will leave the
Netherlands with a tournament-leading five goals from four games.
Two minutes before the final whistle, Netherlands skipper Sherida Spitse
stopped Toni Duggan's shot on the goal line.
England coach Mark Sampson said he was devastated but "incredibly proud
of the team".
"We knew it was going to be difficult, the host nation, big crowd,
really motivated, excellent team, Holland. They've deserved their place in the
final."
Denmark, who sent eight-time champions Germany packing with a 2-1
quarter-final win, will play their first Euro final after their sixth
semi-final in history.
Denmark dominated possession but Austria threatened first with Nina
Burger's shot that was cleared off the goal line by the Danish defence.
Sanne Troelsgaard blasted her shot into the crossbar on 21 minutes in
Denmark's best first-half chance.
Austrian keeper Manuela Zinsberger found herself pretty busy after
half-time, clearing Simone Boye's glancing header from close range and Pernille
Harder's left-footer from inside the box.
Katrine Veje slammed the ball over from close range in extra-time, while
Harder first saw her shot stopped by Zinsberger and then sent her bullet header
wide on 120 minutes.
"It was great to get to the semis in our first tournament, conceding
once in five games," said Austria coach Dominik Thalhammer.
"Today was close and we missed four penalties, which cost us."
"It wasn't our best performance, but the
overall tournament has been very good for us."
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