France must defy the weight of history as they attempt to sink Germany in the second semi-final at the Women's European Championship.
Corinne Diacre's French team have already made a colossal impact on the tournament in England, starting from when they smashed five goals past Italy in the first half of their opening group game.
That felt like a statement 45 minutes, a message to their rivals that this France team are different to those who have come before. Although France have not quite hit those swashbuckling heights since, they are through to their first Women's Euros semi-final, after falling in the quarters in each of the last three editions.
Coach Diacre made some tough choices for this tournament, omitting star forward Eugenie Le Sommer and Champions League player of the match Amandine Henry, and Les Bleues suffered a crushing blow when star striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto suffered an ACL injury during the group stages.
It became imperative that those players Diacre has trusted to perform delivered for the coach, and a 1-0 quarter-final win over the Netherlands, secured by Eve Perisset's extra-time penalty, took France further than they have ever gone before.
However, and here comes the kicker, each of the last four first-time semi-finalists fell at this hurdle: Spain (1997), Finland (2005), Netherlands (2009) and Austria (2017).
To boot, Germany have progressed from eight of their nine previous European Championship semi-finals, with the lone defeat coming in 1993 against Italy.
France will be up against it in Milton Keynes, with their opponents yet to concede a goal in these finals.
Germany might not be at their absolute pomp, but their next goal will be Die Nationalelf's 100th in European Championship football. No team has yet reached that landmark.
Germany look to turn back time
Germany's players do not need to look far to be served a reminder of their rich heritage in this tournament. Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was a four-time European champion in her playing days, helping the national team to titles in 1989, 1991, 1995 and 1997.
A run of six consecutive European titles was ended with a shock quarter-final exit to Denmark five years ago, and Voss-Tecklenburg was hired in November 2018 to lead the team forward.
She played 125 games for her country, scoring 27 goals, and was twice Germany's footballer of the year.
Germany cannot rely on past glories once the whistle sounds on Wednesday, even if France will be aware of their opponents' illustrious history.
This is the third Women's Euros clash between Germany and France, and the previous two resoundingly went Germany's way: 3-0 in 2005 and 5-1 in 2009, both in the group stage.
There are players in Germany's 2022 squad looking to live up to the feats of stars gone by, and captain Alexandra Popp can become the first ever player to score in five consecutive appearances at the Women's Euros when she lines up against France. Her four goals so far put her outright second in the race for the Golden Boot ahead of the semi-finals getting under way, one behind England's Beth Mead.
Collectively, Germany have been solid and have yet to concede a goal after four games. Only Germany themselves have kept five or more consecutive clean sheets in the history of this tournament (seven in a row between 2001 and 2005).
French fancy a final flourish
The Wembley final beckons on Sunday, and France would dearly love to be involved in that showpiece. They have won two of their last three internationals against Germany (L1), most recently a 1-0 victory in a friendly in June 2021.
Germany won on penalties when these sides met in the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals, their last major tournament clash, but sufficient time has passed for that to have little bearing.
Diacre is expected to be rewarded with a new contract after this tournament, with French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet saying at the weekend it was important to put that on the backburner for now.
Le Graet said, quoted in L'Equipe: "The competition is not over. Decisions are made when it's all over. It is logical that we will discuss it again soon. I am very happy with Corinne and the progress that has been made. The players and Corinne are very motivated and good together."
If anything has been holding back France, it has been their finishing, which might be a surprise given how deadly they were in that opening 45 minutes against Italy.
Overall, they have had 94 goal attempts but scored just nine times, with their 9.6 per cent shot conversion rate the lowest of the four semi-finalists prior to the last-four games getting under way.
Curiously, France have scored eight of those nine goals in the first half of games, and the other came in the first half of extra time as they knocked out the Dutch, who were the reigning champions.
Mbappe position switch works wonders for Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti was satisfied his tactical decision to switch Kylian Mbappe's position in attack paid off in Real Madrid's 3-0 win over Leganes.
Mbappe scored his seventh goal of the season to help Madrid to a comfortable victory in LaLiga on Sunday.
However, his position in Madrid's front line has been a topic of debate since he joined the Spanish champions, with Mbappe having often played out wide while at Paris Saint-Germain.
And Ancelotti elected to switch Mbappe out to the left flank against Leganes, with Vinicius Junior spearheading Los Blancos' attack.
"Mbappe played on the left side, where he did well, and Vinicius on the inside," Ancelotti told reporters.
"We have to highlight their play to open the scoring. They did very, very well. Mbappe scored, after a fantastic assist from Vinicius. Little by little, they're both improving.
"Kylian is more used to playing there and today, for the team and for him, it was the best thing.
"Because playing on the outside brings more effort and Vinicius was back on Thursday. Meanwhile, Kylian had been training here for a week and a half, he was fresher."
Mbappe was not called up by France coach Didier Deschamps for this month's Nations League games, despite being Les Bleus' captain.
With an injury crisis at the back and a trip to Anfield to face Premier League and Champions League leaders Liverpool coming up, Ancelotti added he was hopeful of Lucas Vazquez, who has a hamstring strain, and Aurelien Tchouameni, who is recovering from a sprained left ankle, returning to action.
He was also upbeat about the contribution of Federico Valverde, who scored from a free-kick while filling in at right-back.
"The truth is that Fede, at the back, has done very well," said Ancelotti of the Uruguayan, who also wore the captain's armband.
"He's a fantastic fullback. After Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez, the best right-back in the world. His problem is that he can play at this level in many positions and is the coach's problem to choose the best position for the team.
"Let's see if Lucas and Tchouameni can recover. If not, we will make decisions."
Jude Bellingham netted Madrid's other goal as Ancelotti's team closed to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona, who drew 2-2 with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Madrid also have a game in hand on Hansi Flick's side.
Orlando City 1-0 Atlanta United: Enrique strike sets up Red Bulls clash
Atlanta United beat Inter Miami in the first round of the MLS playoffs, yet their postseason came to an end with a 1-0 defeat to Orlando City.
The Five Stripes went into Sunday's Eastern Conference semifinal at Inter&Co Stadium full of confidence after ditching Lionel Messi and the rest of Miami's stars out of the playoffs last time out.
Yet it was Orlando who, for the first time in club history, booked their place in the Eastern Conference finals thanks to Ramiro Enrique's 39th-minute winner.
Enrique tucked in from close range after Atlanta failed to clear their lines from a corner.
That goal came after Orlando had started brightly, with Dagur Thorhallsson hitting the woodwork early on before Facundo Torres saw an effort cleared off the line.
Buoyed by a fine record against Orlando, who they had lost to just four times in 22 meetings ahead of this contest, Atlanta pressed for an equaliser after the break, but they could not find a way through a robust Lions defence.
Orlando will now host the New York Red Bulls in next week's Eastern Conference final, with a place in the MLS Cup final on the line.
Data Debrief: Stay away from the Lions' den
Fresh from the Orlando Pride's victory in the National Women's Soccer League on Saturday, Orlando had plenty to live up to if they wanted to cap a great sporting weekend for the city.
And they did just that, with the backing of a vociferous crowd that helped them get over the line. Those fans will be called on again next week when the Red Bulls roll into town, but Orlando need not fear. They have lost only one of their last 14 home matches in all competitions (W9 D4 including two penalty shootout wins and one penalty shootout loss).
And while Atlanta huffed and puffed, they never really threatened to blow the door down, as Orlando limited them to just eight shots, with none of those hitting the target.
Indeed, Orlando had openings on the counter and could have put the match to bed with a bit more composure, as they finished with 1.3 expected goals to Atlanta's 0.4 xG.
Conte: Napoli need to focus on improvement, not Serie A lead
Napoli should pay little attention to their place at the top of Serie A, so says Antonio Conte, who has demanded improvement from his team.
Romelu Lukaku's second-half goal handed Napoli a 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.
That victory sent Napoli back to the summit of Serie A, with Conte's side one point ahead of Atalanta, Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio, while Juventus are only four points back in a six-team title race.
Napoli needed to get back to winning ways after a draw against Inter and a 3-0 loss to Atalanta before the international break, and Conte insists his team must sharpen up.
"Before the match, I told the lads not to look at the table, but to focus on ourselves and improving what we are working on," Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
"I maintain that now too because we need to take a series of steps to raise the level.
"I was satisfied with the performance for a good 65 minutes today, we could’ve taken more of our chances and were up against a strong Roma who have great players.
"Roma were also making their debut under a new coach and therefore were very eager to prove themselves, but we still should've dealt with the final 15-20 minutes better, as we sat too deep and made it complicated for ourselves."
Roma, playing under new boss Claudio Ranieri, came close to equalising when Artem Dovbyk hit the woodwork with a header.
Ranieri came out of retirement to take charge of Roma following Ivan Juric's dismissal earlier in November, though the visitors had just six shots and accumulated only 0.6 expected goals (xG) at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
"If we look back, we have some problems and that is why I was called. We were up against a team that is fighting to win the Scudetto," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Having said all of that, I am happy with the performance from my players. We made some mistakes that we will talk about during the week, but the hunger, the determination to get back on track was there.
"We have a lot of work to do, but I feel positive.
"We know there is work to be done, we have to focus on reacting rather than sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves.
"The [players] need the right character to help themselves and then others. Naturally, when I arrived, the team was a little closed up, but I think we started to open up a bit by the second half."
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