Alayah Pilgrim manifests Euro 2025 knockout destiny with goal in 2-0 win over Iceland

BERN – With Switzerland’s hopes of making the knockout round of the Women’s European Championship hanging in the balance late in the game against Iceland on July 6, substitute Alayah Pilgrim had one thing on her mind when coach Pia Sundhage called her number – to score the goal that would ensure victory. 

As her side clung on to a 1-0 lead, the 22-year-old came off the bench in the 78th minute on a wet, slippery night.

And, as the clock ticked past 90 minutes, she fired a deflected effort that gave the Swiss a 2-0 cushion that teed them up for a Group A showdown with Finland on July 10, with a place in the last eight at stake.

Geraldine Reuteler got the opener at the Wankdorf Stadium in Bern.

“Actually, before I came in, I was manifesting a bit. I wanted to score this goal really bad, and I wanted to be a game changer, and that was in my mind.

“So I just took the ball, went right and took a shot,” Pilgrim said, still caught up in the joy of the moment.

“I was in my moment. Actually, I was just like, I don’t know what I felt. I felt so many things in my body, and so much energy and emotions and the crowd. Of course, it was an amazing feeling.”

Pilgrim’s effort took a deflection that wrong-footed Iceland goalkeeper Cecilia Runarsdottir, sparking wild celebrations from the home crowd.

The three points meant Switzerland only need to draw against the Finns, who lost 2-1 to Norway in the earlier game in Sion on July 6, to seal a quarter-final berth.

With Norway top of Group A on six points and the Swiss second on three, ahead of Finland on goal difference, Pilgrim said she would likely take the same approach for the decisive game. 

“Manifesting is a good thing and we’re really looking forward to playing against Finland and get another win,” she said.

Sundhage said she would have no problem getting her squad to focus on the next task.

“I feel that the team is getting tighter and tighter. And that’s very important in order to win anything, believing each other and believe that you can win,” she said. 

Earlier on July 6, Caroline Graham Hansen’s winning strike for Norway against Finland will barely register among the best goals of her career, but it offers her country a shot at redemption after years of Euro heartbreak.

Her cross from a tight angle dipped over Finnish goalkeeper Anna Koivunen before hitting the far post and flying into the net in the 84th minute, a just reward after she displayed the full extent of her dribbling skills to set up the chance.

“It was intuition. You try the thing no one expects, and then it goes in. I have no better explanation than that,” Graham Hansen told Norway’s TV2 after her side’s 2-1 win at the Stade de Tourbillon in Sion.

“It’s lovely, especially when it was such a messy game. You feel that you are not quite where you want to be, so getting three points and getting to the quarter-finals is lovely.”

Eva Nystrom diverted Graham Hansen’s low cross into her own net in the third minute. Oona Sevenius equalised for Finland before half-time, but Graham Hansen decided the game six minutes from time.

After beating hosts Switzerland 2-1 in their opener on July 2, Norway have advanced as group winners and will play the runners-up in Group B, which features Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal.

For the likes of Graham Hansen, captain Ada Hegerberg and former captain Maren Mjelde, getting through to the knockout stages will offer them a chance at redemption following more than a decade of underachievement at the Euro.

That trio all featured in Norway’s last game in the knockout stage of the competition, the 2013 final, in which Graham Hansen won one of two penalties the Norwegians missed in a 1-0 defeat by Germany.

They exited at the group stage in 2017 and 2022, suffering a record 8-0 defeat by eventual winners England last time out. REUTERS, AFP