England and Germany set for historic Euro 2022 final
The Hindu
When host nation England takes on Germany in the European Championship final on Sunday, Wembley stadium is expected to have a tournament-record crowd of nearly 90,000
England against Germany at Wembley Stadium. A final that underlines the growing stature of women’s soccer in Europe and echoes decades of history.
When host nation England takes on Germany in the European Championship final on Sunday, it will have a tournament-record crowd of nearly 90,000. Euro 2022 as a whole will be easily the best-attended ever. It beat the previous mark of 240,000 part-way through the group stage.
“It’s going to be a great festival of football,” German coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said on Wednesday.
“That’s a classic in soccer, England-Germany.” England is aiming to win its first major women’s tournament title on the site where the English men’s national team beat West Germany to win its only major title to date, the 1966 World Cup.
Germany has won all eight European finals it’s played — and crushed England 6-2 in the 2009 final — but its momentum had seemed to slow in recent years as other countries invested heavily in women’s leagues.
England has scored a tournament-leading 20 goals on its way to the final, more than half in two storming wins over former European champions, 8-0 against Norway in the group stage and 4-0 against Sweden in the semifinals.
Beating eight-time winner Germany would be the perfect way for England to write history.