Martina Voss-Tecklenburg applauded her team’s next victory with a satisfied smile. The German soccer players struggled for a long time in the exhibition once morest Finland. But following 3-0 (1-0) on Saturday night in Milton Keynes, they went clean and with a lot Confidence in the quarterfinals of the European Championship once morest Austria. “We solved it seriously,” emphasized Voss-Tecklenburg, even if it wasn’t brilliant.
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“It was hard work today,” said captain and goalscorer Alexandra Popp, while Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock immediately apologized to her Finnish counterpart via Twitter. “Sorry, dear @Haavisto, that the @DFB_Frauen once once more played such efficient football at #FINGER tonight. But soon we’ll be playing together in the NATO team,” wrote the Greens politician, looking forward to the quarter-finals.
Sophia Kleinherne broke the spell with her first international goal (40th minute). Popp with her third goal in the third game (48th) and Joker Nicole Anyomi (63rd) then scored in front of 20,721 spectators. “I’ve been waiting for the season for a long time. Now I finally got the chance,” Anyomi said. This game gives a lot of boost once more. “A starting position that we have earned,” stressed Kleinherne.
Spain, second in the Germany group, advanced to the quarter-finals on Saturday evening. Thanks to a late goal by Marta Cardona (90th) in the parallel game in Brentford, the European Championship favorites narrowly beat Denmark 1-0 (0-0).
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On Thursday, Germany in the Brentford Community Stadium is regarding the semi-finals. The game once morest Finland was meaningless for the table: the DFB women had already reached the first knockout round as leaders in Group B, the opponent had previously been eliminated. A possible German opponent in the semi-finals on the way to the hoped-for ninth European title is France.
As in the 4-0 win once morest Denmark and 2-0 once morest Spain, the DFB women did not concede a goal. Goalkeeper Merle Frohms hardly got anything to do once morest harmless Finns. “It’s anything but a friendly game, it’s a European Championship game and we want to play it with a clear dominance,” Voss-Tecklenburg emphasized.
The German selection started with four new players. For the suspended Lena Oberdorf and Felicitas Rauch, Lena Lattwein (all VfL Wolfsburg) played on the six and Sophia Kleinherne from Frankfurt as a left-back. Central defender Sara Doorsoun (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Bayern midfielder Linda Dallmann also joined the starting line-up.
The attack by Popp, who once more played up front for goal scorer Lea Schüller following her positive corona test, put pressure on from the start. The Wolfsburg player missed the first chance to head the ball following just 30 seconds. Above all, the lively Dallmann repeatedly tore gaps in the Finnish defense. But the last passes were all increasingly sloppy – and the shots on goal were far too harmless.
Only the strong Kleinherne prevailed decisively from a short distance and celebrated the opening goal. After Anyomi and later Laura Freigang (both Eintracht Frankfurt) came in the second half, all field players from the squad can now show EM minutes.
Immediately following the restart, Popp headed Germany’s fifth goal of the tournament before Anyomi increased it to 3-0 with a low shot.
Austria’s national coach Irene Fuhrmann had already expressed her respect for the quarter-final opponent before the next German victory. “We know that Germany is superior and is currently performing extremely well,” said the 41-year-old following her team’s 1-0 win over Norway. *However, the Austrians also saw on television how the game of the title candidate can be severely disrupted once morest Finland. *
