Record crowd see Germany pip England
Germany Women spoiled the party and struck late on to earn a victory over England in front of a record- breaking crowd at Wembley.
An attendance of 77,768 was recorded, which smashed the previous best for a Lionesses home fixture, but fell slightly short of the best- ever crowd for a women’s match in the UK.
That remains the 80,203 who were at the same venue for the Olympic final between the United States and Japan in 2012. Saturday’s crowd, though, became the largest to see a British women’s international team on home soil, surpassing the 70,584 that saw Great Britain beat Brazil 1- 0 at Wembley in those London Olympics.
England striker Ellen White hailed the magnificent turnout. She said: “It’s unbelievable – the support, the noise, the atmosphere – we are really sorry we couldn’t get the result.” Germany were on the front foot from the off and in the third minute silenced an excitable crowd when captain Alexandra Popp opened the scoring. A fine move down the right saw Kathrin Hendrich pick out the forward and she headed home to make it a nightmare start for Phil Neville’s side.
However, in the 35th minute, England won a spot- kick. White played Beth Mead through and she just managed to beat Merle Frohms to the ball, which left the referee with no option but to point to the spot.
The yellow card shown to the Germany No. 1, and then Nikita Parris had her penalty saved. It was a poor spot- kick, right down the middle, but brilliantly stopped by the legs of Frohms.
A minute before half- time, England levelled. Keira Walsh produced a wonderful cross into the area and White made a classic run to beat the offside flag and poke home.
It was a timely boost for Neville and gave the Lionesses something to build on in the second period, but the offside flag saved them in 61st minute as Lina Magull tapped in after Mary Earps had denied Klara Buhl.
It was Germany who grabbed the decisive second a minute from time. Captain Steph Houghton was unable to get across to block Buhl’s low shot, which nestled into the bottom corner.