Between a host country, England, which dreams of a first major trophy, and Germany in search of its former glory, the final of the Women’s Football Euro, Sunday (4:00 p.m. UT) at Wembley , will crown a deserved champion at the end of a fierce competition.
Full stadiums, great atmosphere, intense and often spectacular matches, the competition will have more than met expectations three years – and a Covid-19 pandemic – after a World Cup-2019 in France which had already set the bar high. .
The final promises to be an apotheosis in a Wembley stadium which should almost fill up with its 87,000 seats, thus establishing a new attendance record, anything but symbolic, for a match of the Euro, men and women combined. . A victory for England would also be a resounding revenge 100 years after the sport was banned for women in 1921, only to be re-authorized in 1971.
Momentum versus experience
The beautiful career of the “Lionesses” obviously contributed to this success and fueled an unprecedented enthusiasm for the women’s national team whose stars Beth Mead, Leah Williamson or coach Sarina Wiegman have become names known to many.
Arrived on a momentum of 14 matches without defeat since the appointment of the 52-year-old Dutchwoman, specifically recruited to win the competition, after leading the Netherlands to the coronation five years ago, the English did not disappoint.
With 20 goals scored and only one conceded, they showed all their power and the support of the public, perhaps making them by no means the favourites, after having fallen in the semi-final stage at the last Euro and last two Worlds.
Opposite, there will be a resurgent Germany which displays an almost equally impressive course.
Exiting without trembling from a “group of death” with Spain and Denmark, finalists five years ago, the players of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg were jostled in the quarter by Austria and in the half by France, but without ever really shaking.
They have, on the contrary, shown their ability to arch their backs and hit when it hurts, but also to adapt to all scenarios, sometimes pressing very high, or grouping together to close spaces, as against the Spain in the group stage.
Eight times crowned European champions, including six consecutively between 1995 and 2013, they have their experience for them.
tactical battle
It is a fierce tactical battle that is looming and the probable absence of the very dynamic left winger Klara Bühl, representative of the new wave of German players, from the height of her 21 years, but positive for Covid before the half, risks to weigh heavy.
The final will also be a distance duel between Beth Mead and Alexandra Popp for the title of top scorer of the tournament.
They both already have 6 goals, a tournament record for a player co-held with Germany’s Inka Grings in 2009, but Mead, with her 5 more assists, looks set to finish as the tournament’s best player. .
This finale could also be used to hunt some ghosts. First of all, those of the men’s final more than a year ago where, even before the cruel defeat of the “Three Lions” on penalties against Italy (1-1 ap, 3 tab to 2), serious incidents around and in the stadium had largely tarnished the party.
With a much more feminine and family audience, no hostility has been felt so far and it seems unlikely that it will come on Sunday, unlike the rain, according to the weather forecast.
The English will certainly have in a corner of their minds the humiliating 6-2 suffered in the final of Euro-2009 in Helsinki, when most of them dreamed of one day participating in this competition.
Lucy Bronze, Jill Scott and Ellen White were already in the band at the time. But Sunday at 6:00 p.m., it is above all their own story that they will seek to write.