It's been two months since the European Football Championship in England, and the summer fairy tale of the German national team headed by national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is expanding into an autumn fire. In the new edition of the semi-final against France, a lot is the same - and yet so different.
Germany wins 2-1 against France, Alexandra Popp scores both German goals, more than 25,000 fans are in the stadium. This applies to the semifinals of the European Football Championship in England, which took place in Milton Keynes on July 27th. And that applies again to the friendly game in Dresden, the 2-1 (1-0) victory over France, a good ten weeks later. But there are crucial changes - and they are mostly off the field.
The game is the DFB team's first home game since the hype it sparked at the European Championship. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and her players deserve this game in England: on Friday evening at prime time, against top-class opponents, in front of an intoxicating backdrop. 26,835 fans came to the Rudolf Harbig Stadium in Dresden. "I couldn't stop grinning at the national anthem when everyone was singing along. I had to concentrate a bit to keep singing. It was just pure goosebumps," said Lena Oberdorf after the game. "As a child, you dream of exactly this backdrop." Her captain Popp says: "The atmosphere was amazing, it gave us wings."
Already in the afternoon there are indications that something else is going to happen in the city. It is true that people in the jerseys of the German national soccer team are normal in the cityscape, even away from the tournaments. Jerseys of the German women's national soccer team, on the other hand, are much more noticeable - they only recently have the same design. And this Friday, quite a few will be sitting in the shirts with the two stars above the eagle in the city's cafés and restaurants. It then becomes unmistakable in front of the city's stadium. At 6:15 p.m., numerous fans were already standing in front of the closed stadium gates. So many that the announcement came over the loudspeakers that the gates would open at 6.30 p.m., kick-off is at 8.30 p.m.
You are there to have a good evening, to let your good mood spill over, to be good to your team, but not only. Before kick-off they celebrate the girls holding the flags on the pitch and stand on the pitch for the national anthems, they applaud the French national anthem, they are completely silent during the minute's silence for the victims of the stadium disaster in Indonesia. Fair audience, filled with exactly those who Voss-Tecklenburg wants to see: "Many young girls, boys too, families, people who want to accompany and support our closeness. We have it all week in the City noticed. It's a togetherness," she sums up happily after the game.
Their captain makes a significant contribution to the togetherness. The woman with the armband around her arm is the same as in the semifinals in England, but because of injuries like Giulia Gwinn, who according to Voss-Tecklenburg "probably" tore another cruciate ligament in training on Wednesday, Marina Hegering and Sara Däbritz or one Corona infection at Lina Magull, several regular players of the EM are missing. In addition, the national coach had announced in advance that she would like to test some players who do not regularly play at the same level of performance. Compared to the World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria, Linda Dallmann is the only player left in the starting XI. First of all, you can clearly see that there is an eleven on the field that is not perfectly coordinated. The vote isn't 100% correct, the passes don't all arrive, and the routes don't always match. It's also up to the opponents, the French are high, play offensively and with urge. That doesn't detract from the mood in the stands, every good action by the DFB team is accompanied by loud murmurs or cheers.
The mood inspires the team, who find themselves better after a good 20 minutes and gradually do more for the game. When things got a little quieter shortly before the break, Popp then provided the all the more extreme backdrop: A - how could it be otherwise - a powerful header from the 31-year-old after a corner by Felicitas Rauch hits the goal. "We made it 1-0 at the right time with a move that we wanted to play exactly like that. It's fantastic that it worked out like that," said Voss-Tecklenburg. The stadium explodes with a loud cheer, the generously handed out Germany flags are waved to the goal music.
It is also Popp who is responsible for ensuring that the exuberant mood continues after the break. After brilliant preparatory work by Jule Brand, who had just come on as a substitute, and who consistently drove the ball forward, it was Svenja Huth's diagonal pass from the right that Popp converted - this time with a tackle. "Germany, Germany" shouts resound through the stadium after the 2-0 win, even La-Ola runs confidently through the round after a few tries. The fact that the French were awarded a penalty in the 85th minute not only angered the alleged culprit Merle Frohms, but also the shrill whistles from the stands contradicted the decision of referee Tess Olofsson. According to Voss-Tecklenburg, Frohms swears that he did not touch Lindsey Thomas when she tried to clarify. It doesn't help, the former Bayern player Vivian Asseyi converts to 2: 1, it is also the final score.
"Oh, how beautiful it is, you haven't seen anything like that for a long time" is chanted before the final whistle - and that's actually true. The last time there was such hype, such euphoria, such a magnificent backdrop was at a DFB game immediately before the EM 2013. At that time, more than 46,000 fans came to the Munich Allianz Arena for the friendly against the then world champions from Japan. The spirit of optimism after the home World Cup in 2011 flattened out again, and women's football disappeared back into a niche.
That shouldn't happen this time, everyone agrees on that. "It's booming right now, and that's exactly where we have to keep at it. That it wasn't a one-off thing, but that maybe 30,000 fans will come to the next home game," said Oberdorf. It's about sustainability, not a short-term sensation. "Of course I hope that the upcoming home games will be accepted as well, we want to keep it that way. It's up to us, it's also down to attractive games in the Champions League, where most of our national players play," said Voss-Tecklenburg.
Their most popular and well-known player, their captain, is one of the Champions League teams with VfL Wolfsburg. After six EM goals, after the crazy injury and corona drama before the tournament, your popularity is greater than ever. She is celebrated even louder, not only when she is substituted in injury time, which the national coach allows her. During the game, Popp is good at filtering the mood and hiding the scenery, she explains. But after the substitution, "the blinders go up" and it's "a nice feeling when the whole stadium is cheering for someone," says the double goal scorer. To then immediately refer back to the team: "I think we worked hard as a team."
They deserve that many fans wait in front of the stadium long after the final whistle, that they besiege the team bus, in which Voss-Tecklenburg quickly climbed into the driver's seat and handed out autograph cards through the lowered window, that they still cheer the players when they get on the bus. All of this is also due to the European Championship semifinals against France. This was just ten weeks ago - but the perception is worlds apart.
