Sunday 31st July, Wembley Stadium will play host to the culmination of the 2022 Women’s Euros competition, and the final will be contested between 8 times champions Germany, and home nation England, in what is set to be a truly incredible encounter.

Playing host as the men’s team did just 1 year back, and making it through to the final, the Lionesses will look to go one better and win the whole thing on Sunday, and despite the challenge of the historically strong opponent, the form England have been in all tournament, with the boost of all the country behind them, this is a great opportunity for the England national team to win the first piece of major silverware in the history of the side.

Looking ahead to the weekend’s game, there’s plenty to discuss, and so within our preview we will cover some of the biggest talking points, looking at the form of both sides and how they reached the final, any team news that has come about since the semi-final matches and then wrap things up with our own predictions for what we think will go down on Sunday at Wembley.

As always, please do let us know over on Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) what you are predicting for Sunday’s final, what have you enjoyed most about this tournament and if you would like us to feature more on the women’s game then again let us know and we can make that happen.

Enjoy, and let’s just say it… it’s coming home.

Form

As host nation, England were placed into group A, and opened the tournament with their 1-0 victory over Austria, in what was a tough game to open with and despite looking like they should have scored more, England couldn’t find another way through and left the fans nervous as they held on for the win.. Playing host and the added pressure that it brought perhaps affected the mentality of the players on the day, but coming away with their first win, and an early goal for Beth Mead got things off to a great start.

5 days later down in Brighton, England made up for a lack of goals in their opening match by hammering Norway 8-0 in a historic night. Goals for Stanway, Hemp, White, Russo and of course once again Beth Mead who bagged a hattrick grabbed the attention of the 28,000 in attendance and millions watching across the country, securing qualification from group A, but this wasn’t enough for England, who wanted to continue their impressive run.

They did just that in their 3rd and final group game when Northern Ireland came to town, only to be sent back home with a 5-0 defeat and ended their historical journey to the tournament on a low. England however were still flying and with 4 different scorers once again they were sharing the spoils and enjoying every minute as they made sure of topping the group.

The quarter-final saw England take on tough opponents, and many pundits favourites, Spain, who took England to extra-time, before a rocket from Georgia Stanway sent England through as 2-1 winners. A tough night which could have gone either way, but England kept their cool, didn’t let the occasion affect them even after going 1-0 down and dug in to get the result.

On Tuesday, and with the eyes of the nation very much tuning into the tournament now, England made light work of their Swedish opponents, hammering them 4-0 to get Wembley ready for another England Euro’s final appearance. 4 different scorers once again and England are through to the final.

For Germany, their run to the final has been similar, yet perhaps less flashy and more efficient. With 3 victories in their 3 group games, and managing not to concede a single goal, they picked up 4-0, 2-0 and 3-0 wins against Denmark, Spain and Finland respectively. Their group was perhaps viewed as a tougher run, as Denmark and Spain had both been tipped for big things this tournament, and so brushing them aside showed Germany certainly mean business.

Going into their quarter-final, they breezed past Austria 2-0 with Alexandra Popp bringing her tally at that point up to 4 goals for the tournament, and set up a tough semi-final match against France on Wednesday evening. In the semi, Germany went in at half-time 1-1 after conceding an own goal as their first in the whole tournament, but in the 76th minute, Popp grabbed the winner and her 6th with a brace in this game to set up the England-Germany final and set them on course for what would be their 9th title.

Team News

Looking at both teams, they seem fairly likely to repeat their starting line-ups from their respective semi-final matches, with no fresh injuries or fatigue looking likely to cause the need for rotation. Both sides will be focussed around their key attacking threats in Beth Mead and Alexandra Popp, but as seen throughout the tournament, both sides have also shared around the goals and so they offer varied attacking threats.

The only debate really would perhaps be whether or not Russo has done enough to earn herself a spot in the starting XI after scoring 4 times already in the tournament, but manager Sarina Wiegman is very much a composed figure who will have the side focussed and not allow anything to affect the harmony and focus of the squad in this final game.

England Predicted Line-up: Earps; Bronze, Bright, Williamson, Daly; Stanway, Walsh; Mead, Kirby, Hemp; White

Germany Predicted Line-up: Frohms; Gwinn, Hendrich, Hegering, Rauch; Magull, Oberdorf, Däbritz; Huth, Popp, Brand

Predictions

It’s hard not to allow personal opinion get in the way too much when predicting this game, but England do go in as slight favourites ahead of Sunday, and I am predicting that they will get over the line and win their first major trophy. I’m not too sure if this will be done as easily as they have brushed aside previous opponents, and the quarter-final against Spain showed they can be challenged, and of course Germany are the toughest opponent they could be facing in the final, but I am feeling confident, I believe the hype of the crowd and the composure and calmness of the squad will work, along with some very in-from attackers which will ensure an England win inside 90 minutes (11/8).

In terms of goals and scorers, both sides have had a very attack-led mindset thus far, and I expect that to continue for the final, with both teams to score (4/5), over 2.5 goals (11/10) and both Beth Mead (11/4) and Alexandra Popp (5/2) to score and compete for the golden boot right until the final whistle.

If you think our predictions are spot on, you could combine them for odds of a huge 26/1 if you’re feeling risky. Do gamble responsibly and make sure to be sensible this season with the influx of betting offers and adverts heading our way as the club season kicks off.

What do you think? Are we being bold, or just plain stupid? Head over to Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) and let us know what you make of our predictions and tell us how you think Sunday’s game will play out.