Parris misfires as the Germans make it count
ENGLAND 1
White (44)
GERMANY 2
Popp (9), Buehl (90)
Germany Women spoiled the party and struck late on to earn a victory over England in front of a recordbreaking 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.
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.
Opposition head coach Martina VossTecklenburg would have been happy, with Germany dominating the opening 20 in the capital.
However, in the 35th minute, England won a spot-kick. Ellen 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 number one, and then Parris had her penalty saved.
It was a poor spot-kick, right down the middle, but brilliantly stopped by the legs of Frohms.
England were beginning to hit their straps and a minute before half-time 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.
The two sides were both pushing for a winner and unfortunately for England it was Germany who grabbed the decisive second a minute from time.
Captain Steph Houghton had made two key interventions moments earlier, but was unable to get across to block Buhl’s low shot, which nestled into the bottom corner.