“Pure madness”
DFB women wrestle title candidate Spain in EM game
Germany’s national soccer players cheer on each other in a team circle. With wild determination and a cool head, they stormed into the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a 2-0 win against Spain. Photo: Sebastian Christoph Gollnow/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
After just two European Championship games, the German soccer players are top of the table in the difficult group B. Captain Alexandra Popp’s team put in another strong performance against Spain.
As midnight approached, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg banged the horn of the team bus a few times and leaned out of the door: “Departure is in ten seconds. If you’re not there, run!” With a broad grin, the national coach counted down.
Some of your players were still being interviewed – there was so much to tell after this next strong performance by the German footballers at the European Championships in England. With the 2-0 (2-0) against title candidate Spain, the DFB women are in the quarter-finals early – and can avoid the strong English women.
“It was a very, very tiring game. We scored the goals at the right time,” said defense chief Marina Hegering about the energy performance of the record European champions four days after the 4-0 win over Denmark. “It was an amazing defensive performance from all eleven plus those who came in.”
The absence of top scorer Lea Schüller, who was missing because of a positive corona test, had “triggered a bit of concern and fear,” said Voss-Tecklenburg. In the end, however, the 54-year-old beamed like all the players and team members. “I’m just incredibly proud today.”
In front of 16,037 spectators at the Brentford Community Stadium, including DFB director Oliver Bierhoff, Klara Bühl from FC Bayern (3rd minute) and captain Alexandra Popp (37th) from VfL Wolfsburg scored. The team tried tirelessly on Tuesday evening to chase the ball away from the Spaniards with their short passing game, and Merle Frohms did the rest. “It was a very emotional game, we can’t bring more power, more energy onto the pitch. The team was in a great position, the Spaniards are a bit desperate about our defense,” said the goalkeeper, who is moving from Eintracht Frankfurt to VfL Wolfsburg for the new season. “What we showed as a team was pure madness.”
“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.” Without the world footballer Alexia Putellas (torn cruciate ligament) and record scorer Jennifer Hermoso (internal ligament injury) from FC Barcelona, the Spaniards could not find any gaps against the 2016 Olympic champion and world champion from 2003 and 2007.
Before the last group game on Saturday in Milton Keynes against Finland, the DFB women can already look forward to the first knockout match on July 21 against Norway or Austria, which will again be played in Brentford. “We’ve reached our first goal, that feels good,” said goal scorer Bühl.