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German cheers after the 2-0
Photo: LISI NIESNER / REUTERS
Germany has made a perfect start to the 2022 European Football Championship.
The record European champions defeated Denmark 4-0 (1-0) in Brentford.
Spain had previously won the first game in Group B 4-1 (2-1).
Five years after the quarter-finals in 2017, the DFB women returned to the EM stage.
Opponent then as now: Denmark.
The DFB women went into the game as the slight favourites, coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg relied on the same starting XI that had already started in the convincing 7-0 win against Switzerland in the last friendly.
Right from the start, Germany wanted revenge for the 1-2 draw and a good start to the tournament.
Felicitas Rauch hit the bar after ten minutes with a flick from 20 meters.
Shortly thereafter, the scene almost repeated: smoke from a distance, again bar (14th).
The DFB-Elf played aggressively and combined every minute in the last third of the attack in front of almost 16,000 fans.
The minutes of Lina Magull followed.
First her artistic shot attempt from five meters by the Danish goalkeeper Lene Christensen was clarified just in front of the line (18th), before it came to the well-deserved goal: The Danish lost the ball in the build-up, which landed immediately at Magull, who shot it out uncompromisingly chased into the right angle from a half-right position (21st).
Frohms saves against Bruun
After almost half an hour, Merle Frohms, who had the advantage over Almuth Schult in the German goal, had to intervene for the first time: Signe Bruun took the ball strongly on the edge of the penalty area and completed it directly - Frohms from Neu-Wolfsburg made a safe save (29'). .
On the other side, Klara Bühl, who scored three goals against Switzerland, shot just over (39').
Lea Schüller failed with the last action of the first half at Christensen (45 + 1).
After the break, the picture remained the same: The Germans continued to have more possession of the ball, were more aggressive and scored the second goal: a corner hit in the six-yard box landed on Lea Schüller, who headed in relatively unchallenged because goalkeeper Christensen misjudged (57. ).
It was Schüller's seventh goal in the last eight internationals.
Lattwein with first international goal
Triple substitutions in Germany and Denmark brought no change in the course of the game: The Danes only came sporadically into the German half, the strong counter-pressing of the players from Voss-Tecklenburg nipped almost every offensive effort in the bud.
After a free kick it was 3:0: A cross at the penalty spot was discarded with a header, Lena Lattwein scored her first international goal with a shot into the left corner (79th).
There was still the final point: Substitute Alexandra Popp scored her 54th international goal with a header – it was, however, the first at a European Championship tournament, and she had never played in a European Championship finals due to injury (86th).
In added time, Denmark's Catherine Kühl saw yellow-red (90+4).
Next opponent Spain
It remained at the 350th victory in the 500th game in the international history of the DFB women.
Group B continues on Tuesday.
Then Denmark and Finland (6 p.m.) and Germany and Spain (9 p.m.) meet.
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