National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg prepares the national team for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from Tuesday – but important players will still be missing at the start of training.
Munich’s Lea Schüller, Klara Bühl, Lina Magull, Carolin Simon and Sydney Lohmann and Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger will not be there when the provisional World Cup squad meets for the first of two training camps in Herzogenaurach on Tuesday. If Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has her way, the much-discussed severance dispute with FC Bayern in recent weeks will be over – the national coach is hoping for trouble-free preparation for the World Cup.
In Herzogenaurach it’s all about the internal competition – and of course about the tactical, physical and playful polish. Make 23 out of 28, that’s the task for Voss-Tecklenburg in the end. After the international matches on Saturday against Vietnam in Offenbach (6.15 p.m., live in the ticker on sportschau.de) and on July 7 (8.30 p.m., live on the first and on sportschau.de) in Fürth against Zambia and the end of the second preparatory phase ( 1st to 8th July) the final squad will be named.
Large group of favourites
“The squad is very, very good. We really have what it takes to play a very, very crucial role in the tournament,” said the 55-year-old. Again and again, however, Voss-Tecklenburg reminds that the group of favorites at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand (July 20 to August 20) with the top European teams as well as the defending champion USA and Olympic champion Canada is very large.
Departure for Australia is on July 11th, the first group game is on July 24th in Melbourne against Morocco (10.30 a.m. CEST, ZDF), before it is against Colombia and South Korea. Already in the round of 16, a top-class opponent threatens France or Brazil. “We want to get the same flow as at the European Championships in England, to play for the title and contest the final,” said the national coach.
EM regulars such as captain Alexandra Popp, regular keeper Merle Frohms, Svenja Huth, Lena Oberdorf and Kathrin Hendrich (all VfL Wolfsburg) as well as the Bayern axis around Schüller and Magull are considered to be part of the team. Five players are still deleted. The decision will also be made about the third World Cup goalkeeper behind Frohms and Berger: Stina Johannes from Frankfurt and Ena Mahmutovic from MSV Duisburg are fighting for this place.
Personnel issues should not be easy for Voss-Tecklenburg. “Of course it touches me, I like my players. Of course it doesn’t leave me cold to express this clarity. Sometimes I need a little longer. I can’t delegate that to others,” she said in the “Kicker” podcast.
Dispute with FC Bayern
And the issue of “severance dispute” wasn’t quite over after all. “Of course that messes up our preparation, on many levels,” commented the national coach. The women from Munich are not expected in Herzogenaurach until Friday.
Voss-Tecklenburg made up for the lack of quantity in the first few days with the subsequently nominated trio of Janina Minge (SC Freiburg), Carlotta Wamser (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Melissa Kössler (TSG Hoffenheim), who are expected to help out in the DFB quarters until June 28th. In the meantime, the national coach even has 31 players available.
Another tiresome topic is the late averted TV blackout from the table. ARD and ZDF reached an agreement last week through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). “A blackout was prevented. This is of enormous importance for the further development of women’s football in Germany,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. And Voss-Tecklenburg said: “I’m just relieved that our World Cup games will be visible on German TV, now we can start the preparations and the World Cup with even more momentum and positive energy.”