Germany beats Spain at the European Championships: eager to win the group

In the 71st minute, that would have been a good moment. Mariona Caldentey shot with full force, the ball finally had to go into this German goal! But Merle Frohms didn’t let herself be outwitted, the goalkeeper reacted quickly, steered the ball over the crossbar – and finally brought the Spaniards to despair in the second group game of this European Championship. The Germans, on the other hand, confirmed their impressive form with a 2-0 (2-0) win in front of 16,037 spectators in Brentford. As a group leader, the team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg will meet the runners-up in group A, Norway or Austria, again on July 21 in Brentford, thus avoiding hosts England.

It had been clear since Monday that the line-up would differ from that of the 4-0 win against Denmark. At the start of the week, striker Lea Schüller’s Covid-19 test was positive, and she was noticed at the start with her mileage as a driver of the strong German pressing and with a goal. Voss-Tecklenburg decided instead to bring her most experienced player with 115 appearances from the start: Captain Alexandra Popp, who was actually intended as a joker after a long-term knee injury and Corona. Otherwise she stayed with the defensive line of Felicitas Rauch, Marina Hegering, Kathrin Hendrich and Giulia Gwinn, the strong midfield of Lina Magull, Sara Däbritz and Lena Oberdorf, as well as Klara Bühl and Svenja Huth alongside Popp. In this combination, the Germans had defended resolutely and attacked courageously and creatively – and against Spain it worked again straight away.

In the third minute, Spain goalkeeper Sandra Paños received the ball from Leila Ouahabi and wanted, yes, what did she actually want? In any case, she played the ball halfway up from the six-yard box straight to Klara Bühl. She gratefully accepted the gift around the penalty spot, pulled a short hook to the left before she fired diagonally with a tight, low shot into the right corner to make it 1-0. For the 21-year-old from FC Bayern it was the 13th goal in the 26th international match, for the DFB women the first adrenaline rush.

“It was the perfect start for us,” Popp said of the early goal: “We were then able to concentrate fully on the defensive. We’re super happy.” The second win gives the team a lot of self-confidence. “Our quick goal played into our hands,” said Voss-Tecklenburg: “Six points, two wins – outstanding.”

But what was then lost was order. The gaps between the rows were not correct, which gave the Spaniards impetus. They found their ball possession game through the short passes that are so typical of them. In the tenth minute, Lucia Garcia had the equalizer on her feet after a clever pass from Patri Guijarro through the German defense, DFB keeper Merle Frohms rushed out, misjudged and was ultimately lucky that the shot went to the right side netting. A few minutes later, the outstanding Guijarro tried it herself, but directly into Frohms’ arms. The Spaniards were everywhere, the Germans chasing after them, until Voss-Tecklenburg became too much and warned her team to stand lower instead of pressing as high and aggressively as had been the recipe for success against Denmark. After 20 minutes the rate of completed passes from a German perspective was 26:146, after the first half it was 110:291 – but the goal rate was 2:0. “We were prepared that we wouldn’t have the ball that much,” Popp said later.

Open detailed view

After the game lacked precision and the Germans could hardly rest on the ball under constant pressure from their opponents, a standard brought success. Felicitas Rauch – suspended after her second yellow card against Finland – kicked a corner in such a way that it landed right on Popp, who, like against Denmark, was able to show her specialty: header, goal, her 55th as a national player, her second at a European Championship. While almost everyone ran behind Popp, who ran to the sidelines with outstretched arms and became a big knot, Magull, Hegering and Oberdorf discussed at the back: Just don’t lose order again! But it wasn’t lost. Hegering held the store together outstandingly at the back, Bühl worked as committed on the left back as Gwinn on the right up front.

Popp might have scored another goal. When she ran alone towards the Spanish goal after about an hour with the ball, she could only be stopped by Irene Paredes in a way that was highly suspicious of a red card. Referee Stéphanie Frappart didn’t even watch the scene on the screen. In the second half, Lena Lattwein replaced Lina Magull, Sophia Kleinherne for Rauch, Tabea Waßmuth for Popp, Linda Dallmann for Magull and Jule Brand for Bühl. But as against Denmark, this did not affect the flow of the game and the voting. No matter what the Spaniards tried, they just couldn’t get the ball in the goal.