During Monday’s match it was Norway that initially took the lead, with a goal from Isabell Herlovsen in the tenth minute. But the German team made a strong comeback in the second half after three substitutions, each taking a goal to settle the final score at 3-1.
“I am very happy about the second half. Knowing that we can turn a game around is a really good thing for the final,” Germany’s coach Silvia Neid told the website of news magazine Der Spiegel.
“We are a strong team. We did have a bad half, but in the end we deserved our win. We really battled for our place in the final,” added Simone Laudehr, who scored one of the three goals.
England secured their place in the final on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Holland in extra time. The team was last in the final back in 1984’s inaugural tournament, when they lost to Sweden in penalties, and haven’t beaten Germany once in their last 14 attempts.
Germany, in contrast, has won the tournament six times out of the last seven – a record in the history of the tournament. A victory over England on Thursday would be their fifth consecutive Euro tournament triumph.
England coach Hope Powell, who played on the losing England side in the 1984 final, remains keen for a historic England win, despite the strength of the German team, who have won all of their matches in this year’s tournament in Finland.
“Our main aim was to get out of the group, but the ultimate aim was to get ourselves into the final. We’re there now, and the next step, of course, is for us to win it,” she said.
“It means so much to us and we’ve worked hard for this. But we have to remember that nothing has been won yet; no trophies are handed out for winning a semi-final. We want to go on and make history and write ourselves into the record books,” added midfielder Fara Williams, speaking to British daily The Times.
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