Alexandra Popp makes German football history and matches Mead as Die Nationalelf crush Finland
Alexandra Popp made history for Germany as she helped guide her country to a huge win over Finland at Euro 2022.
Germany were already set to win Group B at the Euros but the win, coming via a scoreline of 0-3, allows them to maintain their perfect winning record at the tournament and head into the knockout rounds in style.
Popp scored Germany’s second goal of the night with a towering header at the back-post (of course) and as a result made history. No German woman had ever scored in all three games of a European Championship, Popp is the first to do.
She is also just the second woman to score in all three group games for any nation, doing so just 24 hours after Beth Mead became the first woman to do so as she scored five goals in her three games for England.
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Popp doesn’t quite have the tally to match Mead, but in her defence these are literally her first ever matches at a European Championship. Through a series of unfortunate injuries, Popp amassed 113 caps for Germany without ever playing at the Euros.
Now, at 31 years of age, she has fnally made her bow in the competition and has scored in every single game she’s ever played! Guiding Germany to three wins out of three and 0 goals conceded, matching Mead’s England.
For the first time in Women's Euros history, two teams have won every Group Stage game without conceding a goal at the same tournament:
🏴 P3 W3 D0 L0 GF14 GA0
🇩🇪 P3 W3 D0 L0 GF9 GA0Will they meet in the final? 🍿#WEURO2022 pic.twitter.com/KlBxg0Fdsv
— Squawka (@Squawka) July 16, 2022
Popp notched late on in the opening game against Denmark coming of the bench to score the fourth goal in the 86th minute. Popp then started against Spain and Finland, scoring Germany’s second goal in both games.
All of Popp’s goals have been headers, and her aerial prowess makes her a difficult prospect for women’s defences to deal with. It feels apt that she is heading for a semi-final showdown with the towering Wendie Renard. The star French defender is perhaps the only centre-back who can live with Popp, and it should be an amazing duel providing Germany and France can both make it that far.
Two players have scored in every #WEURO2022 game so far:
◎ Beth Mead 🏴
◉ Alexandra Popp 🇩🇪The only way they could meet would be in the final. 😏 pic.twitter.com/x5OqvIry65
— Squawka (@Squawka) July 16, 2022
