Wembley again.
“We have dreamed of this: a final against England at Wembley. I don’t know if there is a bigger moment for our players,” Voss-Tecklenburg said before they went out for the final session before Sunday’s final, in an arena that retains a mythology, a mystery for them as well, expressed in Berlin. as ‘Deutsch Wembley’ when hosting cup finals. It is a stage that can take on an extra meaning, the hope expressed for a lasting legacy as well as another story to be told. Dietmar Hamann scored the last goal before Wembley was renovated. There was Euro 1996, 30 years of hurt turned into 56 that could finally end tomorrow. And, of course, 1966. And Germans speak fondly – and yes, they speak fondly of ’66 – of the Euro 1972 quarter-final. “I was born in 1967, so…” Voss-Tecklenburg said with a smile. “But everyone knows the history between Germany and England, the goals and penalties at Wembley.” And now there’s this, and it’s special. bigger than the rivalry, surpassing those teams, but also bigger for the rivalry. “England v Germany electrifies football fans,” added the German coach. “There is such a tradition, a history. For me, there is only one football and that is a football feast. If we could choose one dream, we would choose England in this final, no one else.” Next to her sat Svenja Huth. When she entered the room, she sat down, looked at the cameras—dozens and dozens of them—looking back at her, and then took out her own. Holding up her phone she took a picture. There would be more when they took to the turf. “We are very excited and the stadium is impressive even when it is empty: this will be the next big challenge, but we are looking forward to it,” said Huth. “There will be 90,000 there tomorrow. Most will probably be against us, but that could be cool too. It’s a great feeling to play in front of so many fans. But the focus is not on the past or the future. it’s only for tomorrow. And we want to give it all, which is a lot.” Voss-Tecklenburg said: “In the beginning Wembley will be English and it would be nice if it belonged to us at the end.” Svenja Huth (left) and Alexandra Popp training at Wembley. Photo: Nigel French/PA And yet that wouldn’t or shouldn’t be the end, which was part of the point. The Euros were huge in Germany: more than 17 million people watched the semi-final. There was something almost pure about the experience, the coach suggested. About the sport, not the money. And for society. The line was that it’s not about equal pay but about equal play. When told that the finalists are the teams with the highest win bonuses and that when she played the bonus was a teapot, she said: “We were amateurs, but those euros were worth as much as the euros tomorrow.” She added: “[The public reaction back home] it reaches us in different ways. The normal football fan who hasn’t seen many matches of women, celebrities, public screenings. We get a lot of messages. And we are talking about a football. I’m a football fan, so I’m a football fan. I don’t care what kind of match: I love an under 10 game as much as a women’s game or a men’s game. It’s nice that this contest had it all [sporting] be careful with the Tour de France. It’s not just our games, it’s all games, the whole thing. It was a great tournament and as a football fan I am very happy that we can show this quality and that people respect our female players. “The development we had made me very happy. We dreamed of this in the 1990s and now I have the privilege of being the coach of the national team and being part of history. This morning I was sitting in my hotel thinking, ‘Wow, it’s really happening.’ I saw the pitch and thought: ‘This is real.’ We have been rewarded. Later I will be able to think a little more calmly.” However, there was a concern here as well. “We have players all over the world who [now] they have the opportunity to make football their profession,” he said. “These are values that are greater than whether the bonus is €20,000, €40,000 or whatever. this does not change our love for the sport, our attitude. What we want now is more equality: better stadiums, more spectators, more TV time, better kick-off times, a more attractive league. We just want to take the next steps and I hope that sport in general will be more important in schools, in education and in politics.” Asked if Germany had nothing to lose, the manager admitted the pressure might be greater for England, but demurred:[It’s] a football match.” He added: “On the way here, Svenja and I talked about the progress we’ve seen, the processes. We’ve grown and we want to keep it going. That should give us strength. If they’re better we’ll give them congratulations, but we don’t intend to lose. It’s a trip that looks great to some people, but we’ve always said we want to win every game. “We will only win if everything that is happening in Europe, in Germany, in England ends sustainably. This should be an opportunity for all countries. This must continue. We need to take the next steps in football for women. If not now, when?”
