Germany Women will battle it out with Denmark Women in their Women’s Euro 2022 opener at the Brentford Community Stadium on Friday.
Lars Sondergaard’s side are looking to go one better than they did in the 2017 tournament, while Germany are bidding to win their ninth consecutive European Championship trophy.
Germany had been crowned champions of Europe on six consecutive champions when they entered Euro 2017, however, their attempts to clinch another European championship ended at the quarter-final stage on that occasion.
Despite performing below par five years ago, Germany will head into the tournament as one of the favourites to lift the trophy on July 31.
Although, before they can even think about the latter stages, Die Nationalelf must negotiate a tough group that features Spain, Denmark and Finland.
Germany’s recent form has been mixed, with their previous five matches resulting in two victories and three defeats.
Although, their most recent game resulted in a comfortable 7-0 victory over Switzerland, which included a Klara Buhl hat-trick.
Meanwhile, Denmark are looking to win their first major trophy after coming close to lifting the trophy at Euro 2017.
They ultimately lost 4-2 in the final to tournament hosts Netherlands five years ago, but they will be hoping to go one step further this time around.
Their chances of clinching the silverware this summer have not been boosted by being drawn in a group that features two sides in the form of Germany and Spain who are currently in the top seven of the FIFA World Rankings.
While Germany played just one match in June to prepare for Euro 2022, Denmark participated in three warm-up games.
Austria and Brazil were both defeated by 2-1 scorelines before Denmark lost 2-1 to Norway in their final friendly, which ended a run of four consecutive victories.
Ahead of a tough opening match, Denmark will at least feel confident of finding the net after scoring in each of their last five matches.
Germany Women form (all competitions):
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Denmark Women form (all competitions):
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We say: Germany Women 2-1 Denmark Women
Both teams have a number of quality of players, and with the sides closely matched, we think Friday’s contest could be a close encounter, but we believe that Germany will draw upon their previous success at the European Championships to clinch all three points.