From BZ/dpa
The German soccer players started the European Championship from England with a thrilling performance and goals worth seeing!
The team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg defeated Denmark 4-0 (1-0) in the first group game on Friday evening. In front of 15,746 spectators at the Brentford Community Stadium in London, Lina Magull (21st minute) and Lea Schüller (57th) from FC Bayern Munich and the two Wolfsburg players Lena Lattwein (78th) and Alexandra Popp (86th) scored against the EM Second in 2017. This put the DFB team straight at the top of the table.
“That makes you want more,” Alex Popp cheered after the game. “Our victory was deserved, even at this level.”
At the same time, the record European champions can go into the second group game on Tuesday against title candidate Spain with a lot of self-confidence. Three years after losing to Sweden in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the DFB selection made a successful comeback on the international stage. It was only temporarily the “difficult game” predicted by guest of honor and DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. Mainly because the two-time world champion missed too many chances.
Lina Magull scores the lead for Germany with this powerful shot Photo: Reuters
In the stadium of the Premier League men’s club FC Brentford, around 1,500 fans from Germany and Denmark created a great atmosphere. Five years ago, the German selection failed in the quarter-finals of the European Championship because of the Danes, this time they got off to a strong start. After 13 minutes, the DFB women had already hit the target three times: twice by full-back Felicitas Rauch, but then Bundesliga top scorer Schüller was offside when her header hit the post.
Voss-Tecklenburg fielded the same starting line-up as in the 7-0 win against Switzerland – i.e. with Bayern duo Klara Bühl and Schüller and Svenja Huth from Wolfsburg in attack. Huth also wore the captain’s armband. She charged relentlessly down the right flank, bringing in one cross after the other. After energetically winning the ball, it was Magull who slammed the ball into the corner to make it 1-0.
The 2:0: Lea Schüller heads in Photo: Reuters
The lead gave the Germans even more ball security. But all of a sudden, goalkeeper Merle Frohms had to stretch to fend off a long-range shot by Signe Bruun (29′).
The Danish captain Pernille Harder, two-time “European Footballer of the Year” and former Wolfsburg player, initially had the DFB team well under control. Even after the break, the German women attacked early and gave their opponent little space. After a Magull corner, Schüller headed in to make it 2-0 – and made a mighty leap of joy.
Svenja Huth is happy with Lena Lattwein and Linda Dallmann about the goal to make it 3-0 Photo: Reuters
Wolfsburg’s Popp, who is now the most experienced with 115 international matches, made Schüller’s first European Championship appearance of his long career after just over an hour. The regular captain and Olympic champion from 2016 had missed the last two tournaments injured. After her club colleague Lattwein made everything clear with the goal to make it 3-0, Popp finally scored with a header. In added time, Denmark’s Katherine Kühl saw the yellow-red card.
