SAlready at the beginning of the evening it became clear that full concentration would be required here and now in order to master it as expected. As she reported afterwards, Lena Oberdorf was also amazed when she let her gaze wander through the almost full arena before kick-off when the teams were lined up to play the national anthems.
The corners of her mouth, the Wolfsburg woman later reported, went up all the time of their own accord – and with the smile on her face beaming with joy, which became one of the symbols of this memorable day of football, it was so easy, the song of the Germans to intonate text-safe.
“Oh, how beautiful”
Later, when it became apparent that the DFB team would defeat France, it was the Dresden crowd who gave their best singing skills: “Oh, how beautiful that is,” echoed through the Rudolf Harbig Stadium , which was packed with 26,835 visitors, most of whom sympathized with the Germans and who felt very entertained by the performance that led to the 2-1 victory in the duel with France.
“You could tell that our football is booming,” said Oberdorf after the prestigious success in the repeat of the European Championship semifinals, in which her Wolfsburg club colleague Alexandra Popp scored the two goals for Germany, as she did on July 27 in Milton Keynes, England.
In the 45th minute, the 31-year-old, who has a special goal-getting gene like no other in the team, headed the ball powerfully into the corner after a corner kick and rehearsed runs in the penalty area. Immediately after the restart, Popp crowned a low cross with a precisely timed sliding tackle after a speed advance over her two Wolfsburg teammates Jule Brand and Svenja Huth, with which she pushed the ball over the line (48th).
“Should not remain a one-time thing”
Viviane Asseyi’s 84th-minute goal came too late to turn things around. The Frenchwoman converted a penalty resulting from goalkeeper Merle Frohms and Lindsay Thomas colliding, with the keeper then raising her hands to swear she had not touched the attacker and Sweden referee Tess Olofsson had been fooled by a swallow. Be that as it may, this small blemish could not harm the positive overall impression left by the DFB squad.
She hopes, said Oberdorf, that this game in front of a full house in a large stadium will further promote the desire for more public visibility, “it shouldn’t be a one-off thing”. It became obvious in Dresden that the German women won numerous new followers with their convincing EM performances on the pitch, which they complemented with likeable and down-to-earth performances away from the arenas.
