Pope leads Germany to European Women’s Championship final

Milton Keynes (Reuters)
Alexandra Pope missed the last two editions of the European Women’s Football Championship, but the German national team captain made up for it with six goals in the current edition after scoring a brace in the semi-final win over France.

Eight-time European champions Germany beat France 2-1 and Popp opened the scoring in the first half and added the winner in the second to book a place in next Sunday’s final against hosts England at Wembley Stadium.
Bob is playing his first European Championship at the age of 31, but he has scored almost half of Germany’s goals in the current edition, while his teammates have netted seven.
“I know how I got to this point because I have to admit I’m more emotional than I’ve ever been,” Bob told reporters. I’m very proud to be here and to be able to perform at the right level of fitness at this time, but I have to say a big thank you to everyone who helped me – the medical staff in my team, the coaches at the club and everyone here. They trusted me and gave me a chance to be here, and I’m just as dangerous now as I was before. It wasn’t like that for long because I was injured.”
Bob missed out on a chance to win the title with Germany in 2013 when he played despite an ankle ligament injury to help Wolfsburg win the treble in the 2012–13 season, resulting in him missing the European Championship.
He injured his knee in 2017, again missing the European Championships, and another injury last year would have marked the third European Championships without Pope unless the tournament was postponed to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A positive Covid test last month has not deterred the attacker as she has put all her problems into scoring in every game so far – a competitive record.