Tournament hosts, England meet arch-nemesis – Germany at Wembley Stadium in a blockbuster 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro Final.
England are chasing a first major trophy in all competitions whilst Germany look to record their ninth UEFA Women’s Euro title.
Team News
England have no fresh injury concerns to report as manager, Sarina Wiegman considers naming an unchanged starting line-up, which would see Alessia Russo again start on the substitutes bench despite calls for her to start.
Germany will again be without Klara Buhl as she continues to self-isolate following a positive test for Coronavirus, which forced her to miss their semi-final victory over France.
Route To Final
England
| Stage | Opposition | Result |
| Group Stage Match 1 | Austria | 1-0 |
| Group Stage Match 2 | Norway | 8-0 |
| Group Stage Match 3 | Northern Ireland | 5-0 |
| Quarter-Final | Spain | 2-1 (AET) |
| Semi-Final | Sweden | 4-0 |
Beth Mead got England’s tournament off to a flier with a 16th minute winner against Austria at Old Trafford, before she then netted four further goals in ruthless thrashings of Norway and Northern Ireland as the hosts topped Group A.
Georgia Stanway smashed in an extra-time winner after Ella Toone netted an 84th minute equaliser as the Lionesses scraped past Spain 2-1 in a nervy Quarter-Final, before Mead opened the scoring in a dominant semi-final victory over Sweden in which Alessio Russo scored a back-heel stunner.
Germany
| Stage | Opposition | Result |
| Group Stage Match 1 | Denmark | 4-0 |
| Group Stage Match 2 | Spain | 2-0 |
| Group Stage Match 3 | Finland | 3-0 |
| Quarter-Final | Austria | 2-0 |
| Semi-Final | France | 2-1 |
Germany began their campaign with a ruthless 4-0 thrashing of Denmark in which Lina Magull produced the opening goal, followed by an assist of Lea Schuller’s goal which doubled their lead as Lena Lattwein and Alexandra Popp rounded off the win.
Wins over Spain and Finland followed as Germany topped Group B without conceding before Magull and Popp netted in a tense Quarter-Final victory over Austria.
Popp’s semi-final brace meanwhile proved enough to see them defeat France 2-1 to qualify for a ninth UEFA Women’s Euro Final, despite Les Bleues having equalised through Merle Frohms’ own goal.
Stat Attack
- England have lost their two previous UEFA Women’s Euro Final appearances – losing on penalties to Sweden in 1984 after 1-1 aggregate draw, then 6-2 to Germany in Finland in 2009.
- Germany have never lost an UEFA Women’s Euro Final, having emerged victorious on all eight occasions that they previously featured in the Final of this competition.
- Since the UEFA Women’s Euros began to have a host nation in 1987, the nation hosting the tournament have gone on to lift the title on four occasions.
- Beth Mead has been involved in 11 of England’s 20 goals in this tournament, having scored six goals and produced five assists.
- Six of Germany’s 13 goals have been scored from headers, with their top goal-scorer, Alexandra Popp having produced four headed goals.
Prediction
Despite the pressure of being tournament hosts, England have simply dealt with whatever challenges they’ve faced in a superb manner and have the ideal style in terms of attacking press to really cause issues here if allowed to play their game on the front foot.
Even if that isn’t the case initially, it is imperative that they defend well and weather early attacks as happened against Sweden in their semi-final, although they had Mary Earps to thank at times with great saves as they worked out how to unlock the Swedish team.
Germany meanwhile look a solid all-round team and didn’t even miss Buhl’s influence in their clinical win over France in midweek, yet their defence did look shaky at times when the French broke forward at pace needing midfield and attack to track back and help defend their goal.
This is the Final though and at one of football’s greatest stadiums in Wembley which will bring bigger pressure psychologically, especially for Beth Mead and Alexandra Popp as they fight for the Golden Boot whilst Earps and Merle Frohms fight for the Golden Glove award.
My advice to both teams would therefore be to just play the game and not the occasion because if one team gets swept up the latter, it could be costly but England can take additional heart from defeating Germany at home in February’s Arnold Clark Cup despite their hoodoo.
This weekend also marks 56 years since England last won a major competition courtesy of the men which coincidentally came on home soil at Wembley against Germany, thus providing further motivation to try and repeat that defeat to end years of national footballing hurt.
Coming back to the game itself, I have a feeling that it will be a tight match where the first goal could be crucial but if England are at their disciplined best, football could just be coming home.
Prediction: England 2-1 Germany
Result: England 2-1 (AET) Germany
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