The German soccer women kept their clean slate at the European Championships in England. Against Finland it was enough with a second eleven for a clear victory. In the quarter-finals there is now a duel with Austria – with many colleagues from the Bundesliga.

After a convincing group win at the European Football Championship in England after beating Finland 3-0, the DFB women are in the quarter-finals. There they surprisingly meet Austria. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg paid her colleagues from the neighboring country a big compliment. “Congratulations to Austria! I think it’s absolutely deserved, they did very well against England,” said the 54-year-old after Austria’s 1-0 win against Norway on Friday evening. The two teams will play next Thursday in London-Brentford for a place in the semi-finals. The DFB women are then also supported by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who is responsible for sport.

“We’re looking forward to a neighborhood duel and a total statement for the women’s Bundesliga because there are so many players in this league. You know each other well,” said Voss-Tecklenburg. After the meeting against Finland “we will keep all eyes on Austria”, she announced.

Second suit is in place: substitutes convince

The DFB women were superior to the defensively strong Finns from the start, but struggled against the defensive bulwark for a long time. Only in the 40th minute did Sophia Kleinherne break the spell with her header to make it 1-0. It was the defender’s first goal in national jersey. Captain Alexandra Popp with her third goal in the third game (48th) and substitute Nicole Anyomi (63rd), also with her premier goal, scored in front of 20,721 spectators.

As in the 4-0 win against Denmark and 2-0 against Spain, the DFB women did not concede a goal. Goalkeeper Merle Frohms hardly got anything to do against harmless Finns. “It’s anything but a friendly game, it’s a European Championship game and we want to play it with a clear dominance,” Voss-Tecklenburg had set the course despite already having won the group.

Frankfurter Kleinherne and Anyomi with premiere goals

The German selection starts with four new players. For the suspended Lena Oberdorf and Felicitas Rauch, Lena Lattwein (all VfL Wolfsburg) played on the six and Kleinherne from Frankfurt as a left-back. Central defender Sara Doorsoun (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Bayern midfielder Linda Dallmann also joined the starting line-up.

The attack by Popp, who again played up front for goal scorer Lea Schüller after her positive corona test, put pressure on from the start. The Wolfsburg player missed the first chance to head the ball after just 30 seconds. Above all, the lively Dallmann repeatedly tore gaps in the Finnish defense. But the last passes were all increasingly sloppy – and the shots on goal were far too harmless.

Only the strong Kleinherne prevailed decisively from a short distance and celebrated the opening goal. After Anyomi and later Laura Freigang (both Eintracht Frankfurt) came in the second half, all field players from the squad can now show EM minutes.

Minister Faeser: “Proud of our female footballers”

Interior Minister Faeser was enthusiastic about the success of the DFB women. “Of course we’re proud of our soccer players these days,” emphasized the SPD politician on Saturday at the “Ball des Sports” in Wiesbaden. “I’m going to the quarter-finals on Thursday and I’m sure they’ll be successful. Then I’ll be back for the semi-finals,” announced Faeser.

Austria’s national coach Irene Fuhrmann didn’t really want to contradict the optimism of the German minister. Rather, she expressed her full respect for fourth-final opponent Germany. “We know that Germany is superior and is currently performing extremely well,” said the 41-year-old after her own team’s 1-0 win over Norway, which secured them a place in the quarter-finals. “I can’t find any words for this performance”, she praised her own team, “and that we actually reached the quarter-finals in this difficult group. The entire journey up to here has been a wonderful experience.”

The German soccer women are warned.