Final lost, hearts won (nd-aktuell.de)

It’s a title that German women’s football still has to get used to – European Vice Champion. Whoever won the final eight times between 1989 and 2013 first has to collect himself, like national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg did after the final against England, which she lost 2-1 in extra time. “Vice European champion actually sounds good – but it also hurts a bit,” she said. And yet it no longer made any difference to a world and European championship won in the past: On Monday, the German women’s national team was enthusiastically celebrated at the Römer in Frankfurt. The day before, 17.9 million people watched the television sets, which alone illustrates the new dimensions in which women are now playing.

The reception at home finally made it clear to the protagonists how many hearts they have won despite second place. “We didn’t notice that much in our bubble,” said Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. The 54-year-old is convinced that the best time for her ensemble is yet to come. And maybe it’s not wrong to draw inspiration from the unfulfilled title dream. “It wasn’t quite enough, but that will lead us to take the next step,” assured the woman from the Lower Rhine. In less than a year, the World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand. “Hopefully we will go to the World Cup as a team that is enthusiastic again and plays courageously,” said the national coach. As in their first tournament in France in 2019, getting eliminated in the quarterfinals is out of the question after this European Championship appearance. Voss-Tecklenburg is soon to sign a long-term contract with the German Football Association (DFB), which will now pay a bonus of EUR 30,000 per player for participating in the final.

But it wasn’t about money when Voss-Tecklenburg talked about a golden future. It is important to her that this close-knit community stays together. Her esteemed defense chief Marina Hegering, as the oldest player at 32, immediately assured her that she would continue. The first international matches after the European Championships, the last World Cup qualifiers in Bulgaria on September 3rd and Turkey three days later, are likely to mean a throwback to the Stone Age in terms of mood: Instead of 87,192 fans like in Wembley, there will very likely only be a few hundred again Losing spectators in a provincial stadium. After that, the DFB has at least planned a high-class international match against France in the autumn, most recently there was a struggle with the TV stations about the kick-off time. Hiding the new edition of the European Championship semifinals in the afternoon program would be unheard of.

Captain Alexandra Popp is also hoping for lasting interest. During the warm-up, she realized that she “couldn’t fire a shot that was stronger than a back pass” due to a thigh strain – and therefore had to pass for the final. After the first disappointment, however, she judged: “We all know that we have made a difference.” It is important to keep going. Substitute captain Svenja Huth hopes »that this was just the beginning of the hype in Germany. We want to retain viewers in the long term: The market is there, but of course we also have to make use of it.«

For the final step on the throne, you need a pinch more power. The defense needs to be clarified better than Kathrin Hendrich did before the decisive 1:2 of the English women. And up front you need resolute alternatives, like the new European champions with their goalscorers Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly could bring to the holy lawn. On the German side, the inclusion of Nicole Anyomi, who had actually been retrained as a right-back, as a winger remained open to debate. And why wasn’t Laura Freigang, a classic goal scorer, when Popp and Klara Bühl were missing and Lea Schüller had almost no effect after her corona illness? However, Voss-Tecklenburg did not want to respond to the deflated effect of their substitutes. Nobody is perfect yet – not even the national coach.

After the victory ceremony, in which the extremely disappointed midfielder Lena Oberdorf, who was also not so effective in the final, received the award for the best young player, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Bundestag President Bärbel Bas and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser found their way into the German dressing room. Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director for national teams at the DFB, emphasized the Chancellor’s promise “that he would like to continue to support women’s football in the future so that we can take the tournament to Germany with us in the long term”. One of them sounded as if he would remind the high politicians in a very timely manner to finally appreciate (women’s) sport more in Germany.

Voss-Tecklenburg from London also said goodbye in this manner, who, as one of the most convincing ambassadors of the European Championship, spoke of a trip that felt like intoxication. Her request: »It would be a real shame if this journey did not lead to many others being taken along, to finding a way in society to recognize women as strong people. We made a statement.« There could not have been a better final word. For a Vice European Champion who won a lot even without a trophy in England.