(Football news) A record breaking 87,192 fans were in attendance at the Wembley Stadium as England Women’s team made history by winning their first major trophy after a 2-1 victory over Germany in the Euro 2022 finals. It was the first major trophy at the international stage for English football since the country won the World Cup in 1966 which ironically was also against (West) Germany at the Wembley Stadium. In team news, Sarina Wiegman named an unchanged starting XI for the Lionesses while Germany were forced to replace their captain and top goalscorer Alexandra Popp with Lea Schuller after she picked up an injury during the warm-up.
It was a cautious and cagey affair after kick off but the hosts were a shade better as their first opportunity came inside four minutes when Fran Kirby’s cross was headed by Ellen White but Germany keeper Frohms comfortably caught the ball. Germany had the best opportunity to take the lead in the first half when England’s Georgia Stanway headed in from Germany’s corner and there was a scramble to get the ball cleared. England also had the opportunity to take the lead when Beth Mead found White who couldn’t hit the target just before half-time. The visitors had another opportunity to take the lead five minutes from half-time when Magull failed to capitalise on the opportunity after finding some space inside the box. Germany came to regret their inability to take chances as England took the lead at the hour mark from Ella Toone.
Germany were unlucky not to have scored the equaliser soon after when Magull’s curling effort hit the post but the relentlessness eventually paid dividends for Martina Voss-Tecklenburg's side as Magull scored the equaliser with 11 minutes left to play. With both sides level, the game went into extra time and it looked like a penalty shootout was on the cards. However, 24 year old Kelly managed to scramble home the winner in the 110th minute, sending the Wembley Stadium into a frenzy as the Lionesses went on to defend their lead for the remainder of the match to lift the trophy.
After lifting the trophy, England’s captain Leah Williamson said “This is the proudest day of my life. The legacy of this tournament is a change in society. We've brought everyone together and we've got people at games. We want people to come to WSL games but the legacy of this team is winners, and it's the start of a journey. Oh my God, look at them, it is amazing, thank you to every single person that supported us. It's amazing, thank you everyone, this is what dreams are made of, as a young girl watching women's football. Wow, this is unbelievable."
England Women’s manager Sarina Wiegman said “We won the cup. It is just unbelievable. I don't even remember what you've asked me! I don't know what's going on!” When asked what makes her team so resilient, she said “Do you have half an hour? If you really want to become better every single day, that is what you need to do. The players have wanted to do it together and we agreed on a couple of things about behaviour, and it wasn't just words. We lived it, and this is the result. With Germany it was so tight, and it was a bit of a fighting game, but who cares? We're European champions. I told the players we needed five more minutes as we'd already broken two barriers against Spain and we had to do it again for 15 minutes. don't have any secrets. I just need some time to figure out what's going on. The trophy is pretty heavy – I would know!"
Despite not scoring in the finals, England’s Beth Mead won the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament award. The 27 year old was level on goals with Germany captain Alexandra Popp but with her being injured for the finals, the award went to Mead who also provided five assists in the tournament while Popp had none. England’s Alessia Russo finished in third place with four goals while Mead was also crowned Player of the Tournament in what has been a stunning comeback for her career after she was not selected for Great Britain’s squad last year. 20 year old German player Lena Oberdorf won the Young Player of the Year award after an impressive Euro 2022 campaign.
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