Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Tomorrow: European Championship match England v Germany

Tomorrow England and Germany will compete for the European Championship. Germany rules the hen house and has for far too long - having won every European Championship since 1995.

The annoyingly titled Die Besten Frauen der Welt (subtitled in English) shows the level of their training, and that pretty much says it all. Few women's teams in the world enjoy the material and technical support that are given to top players in Germany.

That said, England had a good result against Germany in the last World Cup - holding the eventual champions to a scoreless draw. The English players have a lot of skill and experience - and a lot more riding on their performance than the Germans. They have more to prove to a country that is strangely aware of the women's game (your average Brit can name the best women's team, where your average American can't) and yet hosts a persistently unsupportive media and FA - this is, of course, why so many English players are on WPS rosters.

I'll leave the previews to UEFA & the English press:

The Guardian: England out to poop the German party and England's women are pitch perfect and Who's who in the England Squad.
The Telegraph: England women face tricky Germany test
UEFA's site: Germany, England, ready for a classic

Not sure if it's being broadcast in the US, but you can watch the match here.

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