The man was extremely elegantly dressed, well-groomed beard, dark blue suit, tie, smart shirt. But that didn’t help him get into the hotel through the small side entrance. The black gate with specially attached privacy tarpaulins was open – but not for everyone. During the course of the afternoon, the gate guard had to show other, equally elegantly dressed people an alternative route to the hotel, where a wedding was apparently taking place on Sunday. Until finally the only company with exclusive entry through this gate arrived at 5:20 p.m.: the German women’s national soccer team.
Between dense bushes on one side and a thick brick wall on the other, the big white bus drove down the narrow street and stopped at the gate. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was the first to come out and, after the journey that had started in Frankfurt by charter plane, welcomed those from the delegation who had arrived a little earlier at the base for the European Championships in England. One national player after the other followed the 54-year-old until captain Alexandra Popp with a friendly, relaxed “Hello!” formed the conclusion.
It is not an unfamiliar environment in which the German selection found itself on Sunday. She stayed at the Hilton London Syon Park in 2019 for the international match against England. A place to stay that is associated with good memories: At that time, almost 78,000 spectators came to Wembley, which was almost full, and the Germans won 2-1. They would also like to return to this place, in this stadium the final will take place on July 31st – and this tournament should go better than the last ones. At the 2017 European Championship against Denmark and at the 2019 World Cup against Sweden, it was already over in the quarter-finals.
Ideally, the four-star hotel in the west of the English capital should become the base camp until the semi-finals
Even if nothing came of European title number nine and world title number three, the framework conditions were better than at the previous major events. Before 2017, the national team was partly in the middle of the city and sometimes in the same hotels as the competition. 2022 fits into the new circumstances with idyllic surroundings, also from the basic idea: ideally, the four-star hotel in the west of the English capital should become the base camp until the semi-finals. The group games against the European Championship runners-up Denmark this Friday (9 p.m., ZDF) and title candidate Spain (July 12) will take place in the nearby Brentford Community Stadium with 17,000 seats. Against Finland (July 16) they have to go to Milton Keynes before they can reach the quarter-finals.
“I think this is a place where we can and will feel comfortable,” said Linda Dallmann after crossing the black gate. “Especially at a tournament, that’s very important. The fact that we’ve been here before makes it easier.” A separate area is available for the national team, a side wing with balconies, terrace and garden, the players sleep in single rooms.
Answerer after arrival: Linda Dallmann has been in London with the national team since Sunday.
(Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa)
The 56-hectare Syon Park with its café and souvenir shop borders the Thames, and if it weren’t for the constant noise of airplanes flying towards Heathrow, you wouldn’t imagine yourself in a metropolis on the grounds of the Duke of Northumberland. The extensive meadows with large trees and the lake – the landscape around the castle-like Syon House seem like an ideal retreat to prepare for the upcoming tasks.
“It will be very close at this European Championship and it will also depend on game luck and small things. We will have cool opponents who can really do something,” said the national coach in an interview with SZ. The fact that Germany wins a tournament as a matter of course has not been the case for a long time. In fact, your team’s first priority is to successfully complete the challenging group phase. The first goal is therefore quarterfinals. “We know that our group will be anything but easy,” said defender Kathrin Hendrich. “But we don’t have to hide either.”
On the plus side: this time the team had significantly more time to get to know each other, it was three years in total
Compared to 2017 and 2019, one thing has changed: At the last European Championships with Steffi Jones (ten months) and at the World Championships with Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (five months), the national team did not have a long joint preparation phase and had to first get to know each other, and the squad had also changed. This time the DFB women can look back on three years of preparation, which was rounded off in June with three training camps and a 7-0 win against Switzerland. “Ultimately, our expectations were exceeded. We were able to work on many, many topics,” said Voss-Tecklenburg a few days before departure. “We used the time intensively and that did us good.”
The Swiss hardly caused any problems, the defensive was not required in principle. Nevertheless, it turned out that the Germans voted better, the game ran more smoothly and seemed more stringent. Everything that hasn’t gone according to plan should be fixed in the next few days so that the start against Denmark and former Wolfsburg striker Pernille Harder is a success. The first training session took place on Monday at Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club grounds. “If we bring our qualities to the pitch and the enthusiasm we showed against Switzerland,” said Svenja Huth on Monday, “then there can only be one winner – and that’s us.”