Captain Giulia Gwinn goes off injured as Germans see off debutantes Poland in their Women's Euros opener

Irish Independent

2 days ago

Gwinn, who has suffered two anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries previously in her career, was helped from the field in tears in the 40th minute after twisting her knee while making a last-ditch tackle to prevent Poland captain Ewa Pajor from scoring.
Gwinn will undergo a scan on Saturday in Zurich to assess the extent of the injury, coach Christian Wueck said.
"Giulia is a very important player for us on the pitch, with her performance and her mentality. I think we've all noticed a little bit of a twist -- now, the most important thing is that hopefully it doesn't look too bad," goal-scorer Brand said after the game.
"Then of course, when we came out again (after halftime), we got the three points for her. We wanted to do everything for her."
Eight-times champions Germany have not lifted the trophy since winning in Sweden in 2013 but, after an ineffective first half, they went up the gears in the second to beat a Polish team that played with pride and passion but came up short on the night.
After dominating much of the scoreless opening 45 minutes, the Germans finally made the breakthrough seven minutes into the second half when Brand cut inside before firing a soaring, curling left-foot shot into the top-left corner of the Polish goal past the despairing dive of Kinga Szemik.
Sjoeke Nuesken and Klara Buehl both should have scored with headers before Lea Schueller finally got the second in the 66th minute, expertly exploiting a sliver of space in Poland's offside line to steal in behind and score with a header from Brand's cross.
The lively Pajor represented Poland's best chance of scoring on the night and she had a number of good chances, but Ann- Katrin Berger pulled off a string of fine saves in the German goal to keep her clean sheet intact.
"I am proud of the work my team did on the pitch today. The first thing that was fantastic was the thunderous determination and dedication," Poland coach Nina Patalon said.
"All the players, whether from the starting line-up or those who came in from the bench, left their hearts and souls on the pitch. This has to be appreciated, because it was not an easy match."
With Sweden having beaten Denmark 1-0 earlier, the Germans go into their game against the Danes in Basel on Tuesday on top of Group C ahead of the second-placed Swedes, who face Poland in Lucerne later the same evening.