Women's Euro 2022 final preview: Resurgent Germany aim to beat England

England against Germany at Wembley Stadium A final that underlines the growing stature of womens soccer in Europe and echoes decades of historyWhen host nation England takes on Germany in the European Championship final on Sunday it will have a tournamentrecord crowd of nearly 90000 Euro 2022 as a whole will be easily the bestattended ever It beat the previous mark of 240000 partway through the group stageIts going to be a great festival of football German coach Martina VossTecklenburg said on WednesdayThats a classic in soccer EnglandGermanyEngland is aiming to win its first major womens tournament title on the site where the English mens national team beat West Germany to win its only major title to date the 1966 World CupGermany has won all eight European finals its played and crushed England 62 in the 2009 final but its momentum had seemed to slow in recent years as other countries invested heavily in womens leaguesWhat it meansEngland has scored a tournamentleading 20 goals on its way to the final more than half in two storming wins over former European champions 80 against Norway in the group stage and 40 against Sweden in the semifinalsBeating eighttime winner Germany would be the perfect way for England to write historyEngland showed it is possible back in February winning 31 in Wolverhampton for its firstever victory against Germany on home soilGermanys fans are used to their team winning titles even if its not quite the allconquering dynasty it once was Since Germany won the Olympic gold medal in 2016 Euro 2022 marks the first time it has got past the quarterfinals of a tournamentThe key playersForwards Alexandra Popp and Alessia Russo have made very different contributions Captain Popp has scored in each of Germanys five games a new record and started all except the opening game against Denmark Russo has started none but is the ultimate impact substituteAfter missing the 2013 and 2017 European Championships with injuries Popp is making up for lost time as the joint top scorer with Englands Beth Mead on six goals Popp has her club teammates around her as one of five Wolfsburg players in the starting lineup for the 21 win over France when she scored twicePopp started out as a full back at nowdefunct FCR Duisburg and won her first European club title aged 18 She studied at a sportsfocused high school with a special permission to let her take soccer classes as the only girl alongside boys from the academy of mens club Schalke and is also a fully qualified zookeeperRussos explosive impact off the bench has been crucial The Manchester United forward who played college soccer at the University of North Carolina has scored four goals as a substitute at Euro 2022 including a backheel through the goalkeepers legs against Sweden in the semifinals Her assist for Ella Toones goal to send the quarterfinal against Spain to extra time was just as valuableAlso Read Transfer news Luis Suarez signs shortterm deal to rejoin NacionalI think when youre enjoying your football you play your best Russo saidMaybe the backheel against Sweden does show a bit of confidence but Im just loving playing footballThe CoachesEnglands Sarina Wiegman and Germanys VossTecklenburg have already secured a place in history as players and coachesVossTecklenburg has been a driving force in German soccer for decades 125 games played for the national team and four European titles a UEFA Womens Cup now the Champions League title as coach in 2009 even five years editing a womens soccer magazineShe has noted Englands slow start against Sweden in the semifinal when the hosts were on the defensiveThe first 30 minutes against Sweden showed that you can hurt England and that will be our task she saidWiegman played 99 times for the Netherlands and coached the Dutch to the 2017 European title before joining England and is still unbeaten in 11 games as coach at the championshipsWe said before the tournament and we still say it every time that we want to inspire the nation Wiegman saidI think thats what were doing and we want to make a difference and we hope that we will get everyone so enthusiastic and proud of us and that even more girls and boys start playing footballThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever