England Women 2 v 1 Germany Women (aet)

Sunday 31st July 2022, Kick-off 17.00
UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 Final

Wembley Stadium, London

Admission: £15.00

Programme: £10.00

Attendance: 87,192

When I booked my tickets for five games at the Euro 2022 tournament last summer, the ideal game for me to wrap up the tournament would have been this exact match up. As early as the end of the group stages, I did think that it was written in the stars somehow, for England to meet their biggest rivals at Wembley Stadium, to be the latest chapter in a long history of classic fixtures between the two nations. And the form of both nations in this tournament suggested a final of high quality, entertainment and drama. 

Although hopes were high for England going into this tournament, their performances have surely far exceeded all expectations, playing a wonderful brand of disciplined attacking football under their hugely impressive head coach Sarina Wiegman. After winning their group at a canter, winning without conceding a goal against Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland, I was there for a nail biting 2-1 victory against Spain in the quarter final after it really did look like they were bowing out of the competition before an equaliser in the 84th minute. After an astonishing 8-0 win against Norway, previously considered a possible dark horse, in the group stage, England then went on to demolish Sweden, the top ranked European side in the FIFA rankings, 4-0. Germany would be the ultimate test though, with the women’s side even stronger traditionally than their men’s team, and this tournament has been no different in terms of their quality and efficiency. They have won the Wonen’s World Cup twice, Olympics once, and the European Championships eight times out of twelve. By contrast, England have only reached the final of a major competition twice, in 1984 and 2009, both in the European Championships. To reach today’s final, Germany despatched Denmark, Spain and Finland without conceding a goal in the group stage, before beating Austria 2-0 in the quarter final, and then France 2-1 in the semi-final. In terms of  FIFA world rankings, England are eighth while Germany are fifth.

A tournament wide programme was produced covering all games in this tournament, except for today's final, for which a separate publication was produced. In honesty, having bought the tournament programme already, today's edition was rather a disappointment, as only the front cover and opening 21 pages were produced specially for the final programme, while the remainder of the 100 pages were lifted from the tournament wide programme, written looking ahead to the whole tournament including the teams who had long since been knocked out.

Although the stadium would be virtually a sell-out, it was still something of a surprise how long it took to go through the turnstiles, and after taking about half an hour queuing and then climbing to the very top tier via the escalators, I made it just in time to watch a 4 song pre-match show by Becky Hill, supported by Stefflon Don and Ultra Nate. Very soon after, the players emerged, but it then became apparent that Germany's captain and star striker (scoring 6 goals in this tournament) Alexandra Popp, had injured herself in the warm-up and would play no part in this game. Incredibly unlucky for a player who had missed the previous two European tournaments due to injury.

The first half was unsurprisingly a tight affair, with a referee who did seem to be out of her depth or wrapped up in the occasion somewhat who seemed to very much favour Germany, waving plan on for apparent fouls, while being ready to show yellow cards for fouls that were not really necessary. Geramny came close to opening the scoring on 25 minutes following a corner, a goalmouth scramble ensued, before England keeper Mary Earps just managed to smother the ball.

England took the lead in the 62nd minute with a wonderful goal, Keira Walsh perfectly launching the ball downfield from midway in her own half, finding the run of substitute Ella Toone, who sprinted between a couple of German defenders and through on goal, before showing remarkable composure in lifting the ball over the advancing keeper and into the net. Germany came close to an equaliser two minutes later, when Lina Magull sprinted into the box before striking a powerful shot from a slight angle, but the ball came back off the woodwork, and a follow up shot went straight into the arms of Earps. Germany did look dangerous going forward, and it was not too much of a surprise when they equalised on 79 minutes, when the ball was fired in from the right, and Magull diverted the ball first time at the near post past Earps and into the roof of the net.

With the scores level on 90 minutes, the game entered added on time, and I certainly did fear the worst at this stage - that in time honoured fashion in games between the two nations. But it was England who went back into the lead in the eleventh minute of extra time when a corner was delivered into the box, the bundled towards goal, and although sub Chloe Kelly couldn't quite get a decisive shot away,  but when the ball gently bounced back off the keeper, Kelly stabbed home for her first international goal, and after pausing to check that the goal would be allowed, she wheeled away , taking her top off in what will probably become an iconic image for years to come. That seemed to be a real hammer blow for the Germans, and England worked hard to kill the game and deny the Germans any chance to gain momentum back into the game. And indeed, it was England who would earn their first major tournament title, and to spark jubilent scenes on the pitch and in the stands, with Sweet Caroline, Three Lions and similar anthems blaring out. 

Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here

The press conference interrupted by the jubilant England players can be viewed by clicking here