Facts: Germany
+ Results in EC 2022:
Germany–Denmark 4–0, group stage
Germany-Spain 2-0, group stage
Finland–Germany 0–3, group stage
Germany-Austria 2-0, quarter-final
Germany–France 2–1, semi-final
England–Germany 2–1 (after extra time), final
+ World ranking: 5.
+ Merit: One Olympic gold, two WC golds and a total of eight EC golds. Germany and championships are, to say the least, a working combination and no team has won more European championships.
The last EC gold was in 2013 and the last championship medal was the Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
It was around half an hour into the match that Germany called for a penalty. The ball was believed to have bounced onto the arm of England captain Leah Williamson.
The score was then 0–0 and a penalty situation had given Germany a golden opportunity to take the lead at Wembley.
But there was no penalty and at the press conference afterwards Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was annoyed.
— There are decisions in football that are not correct. But at this level and in a European Championship final, it shouldn’t happen. I want to have a discussion about it – why didn’t anyone check it? Why was there no communication about it. If it had happened in England, I wouldn’t have been happy either, she says.
Talked to Kirby
Even in the England camp, some players seemed to have thought there would be penalties. At least according to Germany’s Lena Oberdorf who spoke to England’s Fran Kirby after the situation.
— I didn’t see it. I spoke to Fran Kirby about it and she said “You’re going to get a penalty”, I said “Oh, what happened?”, because I didn’t see the situation. We didn’t get it but to be honest I haven’t seen the penalty. Afterwards you can say you should have had it, but in the end it doesn’t matter, says Oberdorf.
Lena Oberdorf buries her hands in her face after the loss.
Germany’s left-back Felicitas Rauch:
— We have so many judges who look at it, so when they look at it, I trust them. But I’ve gotten a lot of messages saying it was 80 to 90 percent hands. As a player, of course you want it, but that was not the reason why we lost today, she says.
“Very Empty”
Lena Oberdorf was just like the rest of the German team very disappointed afterwards.
— I feel very empty. I don’t really have words to describe what happened tonight. In the end they scored more goals than us. In the final you have to be a little lucky and we didn’t have that. England win today and they deserve it. I can only say congratulations to them and celebrate properly, says Oberdorf.
TT: What do you say about your tournament – is it a step forward for Germany?
— Nobody expected us to be here in the final. We showed that we are a top team and will show it in the WC next year. Now we have to prepare and have the right focus