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The players of the DFB team feel comfortable at their base camp, from which they plan their steps to the longed-for summit attempt at this European championship.

Marc Heinrich

sports editor.

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The quarter is located in west London, where there are many idyllic corners for walking along the Thames, which meanders through the sometimes rural-looking terrain, but also hip cafés where guests from good old Germany then promptly found a change from football with company and chilled.

National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg had let go of the reins after the opening win and had no objection to leaving the hotel, before she sharpened her senses again at the beginning of the week and prepared her for a demanding endurance test that promises to reveal how the comparatively easy-looking gallop at the 4 :0 against Denmark.

anticipation of the atmosphere

This Tuesday, the Germans will meet the title candidates from Spain (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, in ARD and on DAZN), who started the tournament no less convincingly with a 4-1 win over Finland.

And when the lights come on again at Community Stadium in Brentford, the streets, which are manageably busy during the day due to the heatwave in England, will be bustling again.

Thousands of fans should come again.

Marina Hegering is looking forward to it.

She finds the atmosphere “cool” at temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius.

Also because she doesn't know this experience from her everyday life in the Bundesliga, it was "really nice" to see the joy the event caused in the peacefully celebrating spectators, they had already waved and taken photos when the DFB bus drove the convoy into the arena and they stood in line long after the final whistle to get an autograph.

So far, the 32-year-old central defender, who is one of the most experienced members of the team, summed it up at the start of the European Championships as “enthusiastic”.

"defensiveness"

When the championship is over, Hegering will wear the Wolfsburg jersey;

Alongside goalkeeper Merle Frohms, who comes from Frankfurt, and Jule Brand, who has stood out in Hoffenheim's midfield so far, she is the third national player whose arrival promises the Lower Saxony team an increase in quality that will take them even closer to the top in international club competition target.

It's a dream of the future, as Hegering explained between the lines after training at Grasshoppers Rugby Football Club: For the time being, her focus is exclusively on progressing with the DFB selection.

Against the Danes, the defender with a mileage of ten kilometers was one of the busiest protagonists on the pitch, she won 80 percent of her duels.

Voss-Tecklenburg spoke of "defensiveness" that gave the group advantages, with Hegering emphasizing that the compliment went to everyone - including the five substitutes, who immediately settled in "extremely well" and also "threw in everywhere". had: "Because everyone in front of us worked well, we had less to do in the back."

“Go in with our great will”

Against the Spaniards, they assume, it could be more sweaty.

In order to prevent their dreaded short passing game, "full-throttle pressing" and the constant willingness to protect are required to occupy spaces in such a way that the opponent encounters resistance if he wants to show off his technical skills.

"We have to go back in with our great will," demanded Hegering and, as spokesman, took it upon herself to "communicate more" than against Denmark, which "didn't demand everything from the Germans" in this regard either.

For a long time it was not certain that the 1.70 meter tall powerhouse would be able to play a supporting role.

Due to injury, she only made seven appearances for Bayern last season.

Voss-Tecklenburg also admitted at the beginning of the preparation that it would take effort to build up the returnee in such a way that she could use her physical strength to do the watchdog job in the back row.

But the numerous days of collective and individual preparation on the sponsor's premises in Herzogenaurach served their purpose.

She worked a lot "with the girls", said Hegering in retrospect and almost in the same breath looked ahead to the program on the island, which ideally has the highlight ready for the Germans on July 31 in Wembley: Give her a " "Feeling of security" that she knows that she has brilliant colleagues around her, so that together they can now face La Furia Roja "full of confidence".

"If you feel good, you're ready to go beyond limits," is Hegering's motto - and she added that with the Spaniards, who have to do without their injured superstar Alexia Putellas (torn cruciate ligament), "with everything calculate".

The way she explained it with a smile, it didn't sound like she was particularly afraid of it.