Germany, already qualified for the quarter-finals of the Women’s Euro, largely beat Finland, eliminated 3-0, on Saturday in Milton Keynes (north of London) during the 3rd day of the group stage.
Victorious at the start of Denmark (4-0), finalist of the last edition, then Spain (2-0), Germany had already validated their qualification before this meeting.
Guaranteed to finish first in Group B, the eight-time European champions will face the Austrians next Thursday, avoiding the host country, England, which has also been impressive since the start of the competition. The Spaniards, second in the group after their success on the wire against Denmark (1-0), inherit the “Lionesses”.
Despite the lack of stakes, the coaches of the German and Finnish teams had not rotated their squads, making only four changes each compared to the previous meeting.
It is precisely one of the new faces of the German 11, Sophia Kleinherne, who opened the scoring. The Frankfurt player scored with a header before the break (40th), imitated on returning from the locker room by star Alexandra Popp, also with a header (48th). Then, the incoming Nicole Anyomi worsened the mark by taking advantage of a poor clearance from the Finnish defense.
With this clear success, the Germans finished the first round with no faults with 3 wins, 9 goals scored and 0 conceded. Enough to fill up with confidence in their quest for a ninth title.