Brand leads Germany to opening win over Poland at Euro 2025

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland (AP) — Jule Brand scored one goal and set up the other to lead Germany to a 2-0 win over debutant Poland in their Women's European Championship opening game on Friday.

Germany, the eight-time champion, needed patience against the hard-tackling and committed Poland players, but Brand made the most of a lapse in concentration when she cut inside two defenders to break the deadlock with a brilliant shot inside the far corner in the 52nd minute.

The young Germany winger then sent in a cross for Lea Schüller to seal the result with a header in the 66th.

“It was an expensive victory for us,” Germany coach Christian Wück said, referring to a suspected serious knee injury for captain Giulia Gwinn.

Gwinn was injured late in the first half after she made a desperate challenge to stop Ewa Pajor from scoring.

“We went directly into the locker room and we all hugged her," Wück told German broadcaster ARD. "The MRI scan is tomorrow. It's the knee. She stopped us conceding a goal. We're all keeping our fingers crossed that it's not so bad.”

Pajor, the Poland captain, was her team’s biggest threat and might have leveled the score in the 64th after she sent a German defender flying, only for Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger to stand firm against her centrally placed shot.

Berger later produced a brilliant reflex save to stop Pajor’s header.

Like Poland, Berger was making her competition debut. The 34-year-old Germany goalkeeper missed the previous tournament and later said she was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. On Friday she became Germany’s oldest player at a European Championship.

Berger was the busier of the two goalkeepers as Poland’s central defensive partnership of Paulina Dudek and Emilia Szymczak kept the pacey German forwards in check.

Dudek did not reemerge for the second half, however, presumably because of an injury, and Brand took it as an invitation to steer her team to a winning start.

Germany is looking for its first major title since winning its eighth European Championship in 2013. It went close at the last edition, losing to host England 2-1 after extra time in the 2022 final.

Sweden defeated Denmark 1-0 in the other Group C match earlier.

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