The German footballers remain undefeated at the European Championship and, more importantly, also win their fourth game without conceding a goal. In the quarterfinals against Austria it is the aggressive pressing that makes the difference for the DFB team. Aluminum firecrackers ensure late tremors.
Happily broken the quarter-final spell, set their sights on Wembley: The German footballers trembled into the semi-finals of the European Championship with triple aluminum fools and dedicated their greatest success since Olympic gold in 2016 to the late Uwe Seeler. Thanks to goals from Lina Magull and Alexandra Popp, the Germans won the controversial neighborhood duel 2-0 (1-0) against Austria – the dream of the ninth title is alive.
Magull scored in the 25th minute for the record European champions, who had failed in the last eight at the 2017 European Championship and the 2019 World Cup. Popp made the decision with her fourth goal in the fourth European Championship game (90th), when she put pressure on Austria’s goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger after the goal kick – she shot Popp, from there the ball jumped into the goal. In the semifinals on Wednesday in Milton Keynes, the winner of the game between France and the defending champions, the Netherlands, awaits.
The game in London-Brentford was overshadowed by the death of Seeler. In memory of the honorary captain, who died at the age of 85, the Germans wore black ribbons. In addition, Seeler was honored with a minute’s silence before kick-off. “The news of his death affected us,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg shortly before kick-off on ARD: “I know that he wanted to watch the game. We will play a bit for Uwe Seeler to Giving Germany a little joy back.”
In front of 16,025 spectators, the Germans were almost at their best. Only substitute goalkeeper Almuth Schult (febrile infection) was missing, goal scorer Lea Schüller was back in the squad after surviving the corona infection. The two-time world champions, who had had a flawless group stage with victories against Denmark (4-0), Spain (2-0) and Finland (3-0), made a nervous start. Julia Hickelsberger-Füller scored the first opportunity for Austria (9th), seconds later DFB captain Alexandra Popp caused danger on the other side.
The Popp chance brought no rest to the German game. The lead of the Austrians, whose starting XI consisted exclusively of current or former Bundesliga legionnaires, was in the air. The German penalty area kept getting dicey, a header from Marina Georgieva landed on the post (13′). In the middle of the first half, the German team couldn’t find a way to stop the bold performance of the 2017 European Championship semi-finalists. The Germans didn’t like the aggressive pressing of the Austrians at all. Magull’s second tournament goal after strong preparatory work by Klara Bühl and Popp came out of nowhere.
But even the goal didn’t give the DFB-Elf any tailwind, even after half an hour not much went together on the offensive. After all, the defense was better in this phase. The lead at the break was flattering despite the possibility of Svenja Huth (43rd). Just 16 seconds after the restart, Giulia Gwinn could have calmed the nerves, but the full-back hit the post. On the other side, Barbara Dunst’s long-range shot landed on the crossbar (53′). Just four minutes later, the German case rattled again. Sarah Puntigam hit the post.
In the 64th minute, the injured goal scorer Magull left the field. Five minutes later, substitute Linda Dallmann missed the chance for the second German goal on a counterattack. Bühl hit the crossbar with a powerful long-range shot (78′), a little later she miserably missed the decision from a few meters (82′). Popp took care of this.
