The energy was, shall we say, not great at the Stade de Genève when the first UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 semifinal ultimately reached its conclusion.
Chloe Kelly had scored a rebound off of a saved penalty kick only a few minutes before—a penalty that was fairly soft, given the level of contact suffered by Beth Mead, and considering how loosely referee Ivana Martinčić had been calling the game up to that point. The risk of swinging a team’s tournament hopes on a single call was confirmed by Kelly’s follow-up shot, and Italy were sent packing.
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