Popp “torn it up”
Tears are falling after this DFB comeback
4/10/2022 7:06 am
Alexandra Popp celebrated her debut in the German national soccer team more than twelve years ago. But her 112th game is a particularly emotional one: After a year’s compulsory break due to cartilage damage, she is returning to the team. She visibly takes that with her.
After her emotional comeback in the German women’s soccer team, Alexandra Popp lost her composure. “You rarely see me cry, but at that moment the tears actually fell,” said the captain, when she was composed again and sitting in the mint green outfit at the press conference in Bielefeld on Saturday evening about the moments after the final whistle. The return of the 31-year-old from VfL Wolfsburg after a one-year forced break due to a serious knee injury eclipsed the 3-0 (1-0) victory of the DFB selection against Portugal.
Popp also saw “a good game by my team” in front of 7364 spectators. Their club colleagues Lena Oberdorf (40th minute) and Felicitas Rauch (80th) as well as Klara Bühl from FC Bayern Munich (55th) scored the goals in the seventh win in the seventh World Cup qualifier for Australia/New Zealand in 2023. Already on Tuesday (4 p.m /ZDF) in Serbia, the two-time world champion can book the World Cup ticket ahead of time.
After her 112th international match, Popp is now also focusing on preparing for the European Championships in England in July. The title there is her big goal. “It’s just nice that Poppi is back,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. “There is no question that Poppi worked very hard for this return. And she also knows that she will have to work very hard in the coming weeks and months. She will do that.”
“Pretty Overwhelmed”
When the 2016 Olympic champion came on in the 59th minute, Popp said he was still very relaxed. “But when I saw Svenni handing me the captain’s armband, which I didn’t expect at the moment, it ripped me a bit for the first time – I don’t want to say -” she said later about the scene Svenja Huth.
In the end, almost all German players and supervisors hugged the two-time “soccer player of the year”. “After the final whistle, yes, to be honest, I was pretty overwhelmed,” she said. “It was kind of a moment where I thought: now I’ve actually made it back onto the pitch.”