The German stand-up woman Alexandra Popp

The camp of German women footballers was a bit annoyed. Your entire delegation had to move again before the European Championship final against England. Out of the base camp in Syon Park in London’s Brentford, into a country hotel in Watford, Hertfordshire, many miles from Wembley Stadium, where the final will be played on Sunday night from 6pm.

According to those responsible for the German Football Association (DFB), the move doesn’t actually make any sense. His sporting director for the national teams, Joti Chatzialexiou, scoffed: “Maybe Uefa wanted to do something good for us.”

Her teammate Lena Oberdorf called her “a beast”

On Friday, the association held a final EM press conference on the stately property – and once again Alexandra Popp appeared. Because who else is better than the goalscorer as a face and a mouthpiece? She has scored at least one goal in every German game at this European Championship and, like England’s Beth Mead, has six goals. Popp is the one who commands the most respect from the host. The “Guardian” is already certain that there will be no one “who is as good as Popp in the endgame”.

Should she even have been projected as the true tournament queen on the chalk cliffs of Dover earlier this month instead of England’s record goalscorer Ellen White? “Other people have to decide that,” said Popp on Wednesday evening in Milton Keynes after being named “player of the game” for her goal doublet in the semifinals against France.

Her team-mate Lena Oberdorf, who, as a midfielder, is also putting in one world-class performance after the other, called her “a beast” in a frenzy of jubilation. That was meant affectionately, but the national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg preferred to speak of the “phenomenon”. That is also better. Popp’s comeback story sounds almost too cheesy.

If it hadn’t been for Corona, she would have missed another European Championship

Nobody from the German EM squad has gone through such troughs as the 119-time national player. A European Championship and pop seemed to go even worse together than England and good food.

Before the 2013 European Championships in Sweden, she sacrificed herself for VfL Wolfsburg when she tore her ankle ligaments and played in the Champions League final. Before the 2017 European Championships in the Netherlands, she tore a meniscus and stretched the lateral ligament in her left knee in a training game. And if the EM in England hadn’t been postponed by a year due to the pandemic, it would have been missing a third time.

In April 2021, she suffered a cartilage tear on her right kneecap. The rehabilitation was a struggle and marked by setbacks. It was a thought that kept her pounding and sweating while building strength: “I haven’t played a damn EM yet, and I want to play this EM now.” When she was the only player to catch a Covid infection at the training camp in Herzogenaurach, the 31-year-old was finally in despair.

But the national coach continued to believe in her. Voss-Tecklenburg knew from their time together at FCR 2001 Duisburg what energy and commitment Popp would muster. But the trainer herself was unsure whether Popp, who was often pushed back and forth between all positions in the club, would function as a center forward again. She initially left her number eleven on the bench in the opening game against Denmark (4-0) before Popp scored the first European Championship goal with a diving header. She slapped her hands on the grass, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Shortly thereafter, the center forward Lea Schüller caught a corona disease, Popp was in the starting eleven – and scored again against Spain (2-0). The desperate Spanish national coach Jorge Vilda then called her “the best header in the world”. This designation could apply, although 1 meter 74 height is not a standard. If anyone overcomes airy boundaries with will and power, it’s this standing woman. She plays in England as if the ten-month break in the club and the seventeen-month break in the DFB dress had never existed.

She has shed light on all the highs and lows of competitive sports. And as a professional soccer player, she’s learned to keep her private life under wraps. She does not talk about her relationship status. Whom she likes to show: her dog “Patch”. She used to work as an animal keeper, a job she learned from scratch.

In the FC Schalke 04 talent factory, she learned to extend her elbows

Her youth in Gevelsberg in the Ruhr area was not always easy. At times her family was in financial difficulties, so she gave away some of the little money she earned through football at home. With her talent, she came early to an elite football school, to Berger Feld in Gelsenkirchen, where many FC Schalke 04 talents are trained. There she learned, as the only girl among all the boys, to extend her elbows.

Today she sings the national anthem with fervor and proudly wears the rainbow armband. Her second title with the DFB team after the Olympic victory in 2016 would mean a lot to her right now. “I’ve been on the national team for ten years. And I’ve never experienced such a team spirit, such a team structure.” She also says that because she gave so much to be in the squad. This is the only reason she can lead as a symbol of resilience.

The long period of suffering also brought something good, says Popp: «I have the feeling that I am experiencing all this much, much more, enjoying the moments much more. And appreciate football even more than before.” And so she is almost relaxed about the showdown against England; it’s just meant to be a reward. She doesn’t think of a shooting competition in a duel with the English top scorer Beth Mead. “The first goal is clearly to win the European title. If the icing on the cake is then added, that would of course be nice. »

And then there would be a big celebration. Popp has already found out at the new domicile that there is at least a party location here. Then the move of the German team would have made a bit of sense after all.