Manager Hope Powell

By Carly Goodwill
September 10 2009

At 5pm this afternoon, the England Women's team will play Germany in the Final of the European Championship, and defender, Hope Powell's team secured a place in their first major final for 25 years with a 2-1 semi-final victory over the Netherlands but the Germans will start as favourites having claimed six of the last seven championships. England's opening game of the tournament ended in a 2-1 defeat to Italy and they only won in one group stage match, a 3-2 win over Russia.  This was followed by hard-fought victories over both Finland and Holland in the knockout stages and while it is encouraging to have reached a major Final without finding top gear, Anita Asante knows England are more than capable of producing when it matters.

"We didn't start the Euros particularly well," she admits, "but I'm sure that goes for a lot of teams.

"We've progressed and improved with every game and I suppose that's important in a tournament of this length - you want to peak at the crucial moments and now we're at a crucial moment. We seem to play better in front of big crowds and in big games so we hope that continues. I just hope we've saved our best performance for the Final.

"I'm really excited about the game," she continued. "It's my first Final and for some of the girls it's the first time they've played in a tournament of this size, so to get this far is brilliant. We watched Germany's game against Norway and for them to come from behind and score three second-half goals in a semi-final just shows the talent and experience they have in their squad. We know it's going to be a tough game, but we've prepared well and we're ready for the challenge. I know it's a cliche, but we've just been taking each game as it comes, the way we always do. We've prepared for this game as we have every other, because that preparation has got us this far. That's not to say that we're not taking it seriously, of course we are, we just take every match seriously."

Germany are looking for their fifth straight European title and they won all three of their group games in this tournament. Asante is completely aware of the quality the Germans possess, but says England haven't let that, or the fact that this is their first European Final for 25 years, detract from their preparation.
England’s ladies may earn less in a year than some of their male counterparts earn in a day, but when England's women face Germany in Thursday night's European Championships final they will achieve something John Terry and co have famously not managed for 43 years, and counting. Although they have not beaten their opponents, Germany, in 18 attempts. Powell, was not fazed and had been doing her homework to avoid history repeating itself. She has no fears about the game going to penalties. The team had practised "every day", she insisted.


You can watch the Final on both BBC2 and Eurosport. 

England ladies in European finals

Discussion started by Three Lions (IP Logged), 10/09/2009 12:49

Three Lions
10/09/2009 12:49

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fulledgelad
10/09/2009 16:52

Well chuffed for them,i for one will be cheering them on from my living room.

Most pleased for our very own,Gorgeous Rachel Brown(A Burnley Girl & a fan)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:09:10:16:53:01 by F.O.Y.L.O.T..

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