At the crossbar with the right hand, then at the crossbar with the left hand and finally with a head on the post. What happened on Friday evening shortly after 8 p.m. local time in the Community Stadium in west London made the spectators murmur, marvel and then even applaud standing in front of their seats. In their first game at the finals of the European Championship, the German soccer team put a real offensive firework display on their opponents Denmark.
Felicitas Rauch was unlucky twice with her long-range shots, then Lea Schüller did not fare any better. But the DFB women didn’t have to quarrel for long, a little later, after energetically winning the ball and an equally energetic finish, Lina Magull scored in the top right corner to take the lead 1-0. In the end, the German team scored a well-deserved 4-0 (1-0) win in front of 15,746 spectators.
“It’s a good base. We’ve won a game now, but the way we played it again gives us confidence. That might also make an impression on one or the other,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg after the game on ZDF.
The fans who were still waiting in front of the stadium entrances at the beginning of the game missed out on an extremely entertaining early phase, in which it was primarily the Voss-Tecklenburg team that created chance after chance in the truest sense of the word.
At the start of the European Championship, the national coach fielded the same starting XI as in the furious 7-0 win against Switzerland. As expected, only the bank remained for the actual captain Alexandra Popp after a long injury and a corona infection. Sara Däbritz, the only legionnaire in the team, was fit again after her muscular problems and was able to play. Otherwise, six Wolfsburg and four Bayern players were in the starting XI.
In the run-up, the game against Denmark was used to determine where we stand and, in a way, also as the key to progressing in the group. Five years ago, the Danes had sent Germany home 2-1 in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. The game was postponed by one day after heavy rain – there are still players in the German team who have not forgotten this defeat.
Also on the Danish side was Pernille Harder, who was later voted Europe’s footballer of the year twice and now captained her team again – this time in the best summer weather. Harder still knows many German players from their time in Wolfsburg. “It will be a pleasure,” she said in advance of the reunion.
The enthusiasm on the pitch should not have been that great. Germany played powerfully, the offensive 4-3-3 system with often high pressing posed major problems for the Danish team. “I think that was the deciding factor today,” said Schüller.
Only when coach Lars Søndergaard’s team managed to assert themselves in the duels and then quickly play the ball forward over the wings did it become dangerous in front of the German goal. So Merle Frohms had to show all her skills after a full left-footed shot by Signe Bruun. However, with Klara Bühl and Lea Schüller, Germany had a good chance of making the score 2-0 before the break.
Schüller finally managed to do that after the substitution in the 57th minute after a corner kick from Magull. A little later, Popp came in for the goal scorer, and Lina Magull was also over after almost 70 minutes. Voss-Tecklenburg made a lot of changes, Denmark also had a lot of fresh staff, but no really fresh ideas. Instead, Lena Lattwein celebrated the 3-0 in the 78th minute after a nice low shot.
