England and Germany set for historic Euro 2022 final

LONDON: England against Germany at Wembley Stadium. A final that underlines the growing stature of women’s soccer in Europe and echoes decades of history.

When host nation England takes on Germany in the European Championship final Sunday, it will have a tournament-record crowd of nearly 90,000. Euro 2022 as a whole will be easily the best-attended ever. It beat the previous mark of 240,000 part-way through the group stage.

“It’s going to be a great festival of football,” German coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg said Wednesday. “That’s a classic in soccer, England-Germany.”

England are aiming to win their first major women’s tournament title on the site where the English men’s national team beat West Germany to win their only major title to date, the 1966 World Cup.

Germany have won all eight European finals they’ve played — and crushed England 6-2 in the 2009 final — but their momentum had seemed to slow in recent years as other countries invested heavily in women’s leagues.

England have scored a tournament-leading 20 goals on their way to the final, more than half in two storming wins over former European champions, 8-0 against Norway in the group stage and 4-0 against Sweden in the semifinals.

Beating eight-time winner Germany would be the perfect way for England to write history.

England showed it is possible back in February, winning 3-1 in Wolverhampton for their first-ever victory against Germany on home soil.

Germany’s fans are used to their team winning titles, even if it’s not quite the all-conquering dynasty it once was. Since Germany won the Olympic gold medal in 2016, Euro 2022 marks the first time it has got past the quarterfinals of a tournament.

Forwards Alexandra Popp and Alessia Russo have made