20:00 Wednesday

England vs Spain 

England come into the quarterfinals in excellent form. They breezed through the group stages, scoring 14 without conceding a goal. They started slowly, only beating Austria 1-0 but went on the demolish Norway 8-0 and Northern Ireland 5-0. The Lionesses are now on a streak of 15 straight wins, conceding only one goal in a 5-1 win over the Netherlands last month.

Spain came into this tournament as the outright favourites. They seemed to prove many correct after a 4-1 win over Finland in the opening game of the tournament but after a 2-0 defeat to Germany they sneaked into the knockouts after securing all three points in a must win game against Denmark. They haven’t been as good as many anticipated and struggled when faced with another tournament favourite Germany, we expect England to take advantage of Spain’s patchy form and extend their winning run.

20:00 Thursday

Germany vs Austria 

Like England, Germany had a fairly easy journey to the knockout stages, winning all three without conceding a goal. They faced a quality opponent in Spain and proved why they are the eight-time champions and one of the outright favourites this year. Although they had only 30% of possession vs Spain, they showed how clinical they are, converting both of their shots on target. They have won their last four without conceding a goal and we expect a similar result on Thursday evening. 

Austria finished second in group A to England and have been defensively impressive, only conceding one goal in three matches. They have struggled a bit offensively, only managing to score three across their three games. With Germany’s strong defensive record and Austria’s poor attacking output, we are backing a Germany win.

20:00 Friday

Sweden vs Belgium 

The World Cup semi-finalists finished top of their group after an emphatic 5-0 win over Portugal. They beat the 2017 champions Netherlands on goal difference with the two teams drawing their opening game against each other. The Swede’s came into the tournament off the back of winning the Algarve Cup and have now not lost in 26 matches. They will take encouragement from this and go into the match with extreme confidence. 

Belgium faltered in the group stages and only just made it into the knockouts after beating Italy 1-0 to qualify in the final group game. They drew their opening game vs Iceland then lost against one of the favourites, France. Out of all the teams that qualified Belgium had the fewest points and we expect this to be the end of their Euro 2022 journey. 

20:00 Saturday

France vs Netherlands 

France are one of the favourites to win the tournament outright, but they ended their group stage campaign in disappointing fashion. They were cruising throughout the final group game after an earlier opener by Melvine Malard in the first minute but suffered a last-minute equalising penalty in the 12th minute of stoppage time. Despite this disappointing ending to the group, they have looked strong throughout the tournament, scoring seven goals in their opening two games. 

The 2017 champions have had a more difficult group stage than they would have liked. They drew their opening game against Sweden then won their following two against Portugal and Switzerland to finished second. Although they did qualify, they will be conscious that they conceded three goals in two games against lesser opponents than they face next. We think their poor defensive showing may be their downfall this time round. France and Netherlands last met in February in the Tournoi Cup Final. France were victorious that day with a brace from Marie-Antoinette Katoto and we are expecting a similar result on Saturday.