Netherlands Women 2 – 5 France Women

Delphine Cascarino led the charge as France Women beat Netherlands Women 5-2 in their final Group D game, finishing top of the standings.

The French have won all of their group games so far, and set up a quarter-final meeting with Germany in Basel on July 19. England Women finished as runners-up after their own 6-2 thrashing of Wales Women in St Gallen.

Following a frenetic opening, Marie-Antoinette Katoto went close in the 21st minute, but sent her shot over the bar after a brilliant surging run by Oriane Jean-Francois.

Katoto made amends a minute later by scrambling down the left and pulling the ball back on the edge of the box to Sandie Toletti, and she sent a bouncing drive into the bottom corner to open the scoring.

The lead didn’t last long, Victoria Pelova curling a brilliant equaliser after French goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin turned a shot from Chasity Grant into her path.

The Dutch went ahead in the 41st minute when French defender Selma Bacha’s attempted clearance only resulted in her turning the ball into her own net to send her side in 2-1 down at the break.

With the French lying in second place in the group at that point, Cascarino took over, teeing up Katoto for the equaliser in the 61st minute before conjuring a moment of magic, slashing through the middle and scoring with an unstoppable shot in the 64th minute.

She scored again three minutes later to effectively kill the game off, and Sakina Karchaoui scored a late penalty to secure the 5-2 win and send the French through as group winners.