ST. GALLEN, Switzerland — 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 in the 52nd minute.The winger then sent in a cross for Lea Schüller to seal the result with a header in the 66th.Germany lost captain Giulia Gwinn to injury late in the first half after she made a desperate challenge to stop Ewa Pajor from scoring.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.Sweden defeated Denmark 1-0 in the other Group C match earlier.___AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer …
