New rooms for the German national soccer team: Three days before the European Championship final against England, the team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg moved to a country hotel northwest of London – because UEFA wanted it that way.
The DFB team around captain Alexandra Popp had lived in their previous quarters for almost four weeks – on Thursday (07/27/2022) it was now on the home stretch of the European Football Championship: Pack your suitcases and bags, off from Brentford to Watford, where now The team will stay at the luxury hotel until Monday morning.
According to the German Football Association (DFB), the accommodation was assigned by the European Football Union. “We don’t know the meaning,” said a smiling Joti Chatzialexiou, Head of National Teams at the DFB, after the German entourage had reached the end of the one-hour bus journey. “It’s actually a UEFA policy to do something good for the finalists before the final. We said we’ll take it as it comes. It might be a change of scenery.”
Frohms: “Party location is available”
Goalkeeper Merle Frohms, who is optimistic about the final, said of the new accommodation: “I think there is also a party location, so the conditions for Sunday are not bad.” The goalkeeper wouldn’t have wanted to go home after the semifinals the day before: “It wouldn’t have worked. Nobody would have been willing either. I think we would have just stayed here and gone on a sit-in.” Against France, Frohms scored her first goal of the tournament with an own goal. If it’s up to her and her teammates, there shouldn’t be any more.
Giant transporter in use for the team move
According to the DFB, the change from the previous accommodation in Brentford to the new hotel in Watford involved a greater logistical effort, as a lot of material had to be transported. In addition to the team bus, a giant transporter was needed to bring all the equipment from A to B. The record European champions (eight titles) had played three games in Brentford, for a preliminary round game and the semifinals in Milton Keynes they had moved into day hotels there.
National coach Flick comes to Wembley
At the final on Sunday (July 31, 2022, 6 p.m. CEST, live on Erste and on sportschau.de), in addition to many other celebrities – including Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) who has already announced himself – men’s national coach Hansi Flick will also be at the Wembley Be there at the stadium, as Chatzialexiou announced. “He’ll come and keep his fingers crossed for us. He’ll definitely take one or the other with him,” said the 46-year-old. The men could well become world champions if they “travel to the World Cup in Qatar with the same passion, play like that there and show that defensive spirit” as the women are doing in England at the moment.
Hoping for Klara Bühl to play
For the final, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg hopes that striker Klara Bühl can test herself after her corona infection. “You have to wait and see if she can come back. She doesn’t have any symptoms. And if she’s negative, then she’s an issue for us. We’ll look at it from day to day.”
In the semifinals against France defender Marina Hegering had to be substituted. According to her own statement, she hopes to be able to play again in front of almost 90,000 fans at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. It will be the second European Championship final between Germany and England – the former DFB team won the first 6-2 in Helsinki, Finland in 2009.