BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) -Germany's Sjoeke Nuesken and Lea Schueller struck in the second half to fire the eight-times champions to the verge of the Euro 2025 quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Denmark on Tuesday that left the Danes on the brink of an early exit.
Trailing 1-0 in a game in which two key VAR decisions in the first half went against them, Germany finally got on the scoresheet when they were awarded a penalty in the 56th minute. Nuesken stepped up and calmly slotted her spot-kick into the bottom corner.
Schueller put the Germans ahead 10 minutes later after a failed clearance by Denmark landed at the Bayern Munich forward's feet and she swept it into the far corner.
"This is a victory of mentality, we knew it was going to be tight, we were very happy we were able to turn it around," Germany coach Christian Wueck said. "It was the mentality, they really wanted to win, so we love to take that away with us."
Germany had celebrated what they thought was the opening goal by Klara Buehl but boos rang around the packed St Jakob-Park stadium when it was ruled offside.
That seemed to halt Germany's momentum and Amalie Vangsgaard struck for Denmark in the 26th minute when she took a touch before unleashing a shot from a tight angle past Ann-Katrin Berger.
Germany thought they had won a penalty earlier when the referee whistled and pointed to the spot because of a Denmark handball but VAR determined it was outside the box, prompting more boos from the German fans.
The Germans will secure their quarter-final place if Poland fail to beat Sweden in Tuesday's late Group C game.
Germany defeated Poland in their tournament opener but it came at a heavy cost as captain Giulia Gwinn suffered a knee injury that ended her tournament. Banners of support for the absent skipper dotted the crowd on Tuesday.
Although Gwinn's loss was huge, the team's collective strength enabled them to come from behind after trailing at halftime for only the fourth time in Euros history, as they cranked up the intensity in the second half, finishing the game with 27 shots to Denmark's five.
Germany have dominated the Euros since they won the competition for the first time as West Germany in 1989. They lost 2-1 to England in the 2022 final, but have been rebuilding after suffering a shock exit in the group stage of the 2023 World Cup. Denmark had lost to neighbours Sweden in their opener.
"I think our performance is good in general for a team working extremely hard, but it's a very good German team," Denmark coach Andree Jeglertz said.
"It's about winning and taking points, and I'm very disappointed that we don't manage to keep the result, or at least get a point in the end."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing,Editing by Toby Davis and Ed Osmond)
