The German women’s national team failed their World Cup endurance test against Brazil on Tuesday (April 11, 2023). The focus of the 1: 2 (0: 2) was still Dzsenifer Marozsan, who played her last game for the DFB women.
Before the game, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg made her players aware of the importance of the DFB women’s game against Brazil. “We have a task here as a team in preparation for the World Cup. The first aspect is the sports area“said the national coach, explaining why Dzsenifer Marozsan would not be in the starting XI in her farewell game.
Nevertheless, the last joint appearance with the 30-year-old played a major role for the DFB women – that was evident immediately before kick-off. Marozsan was officially said goodbye there, received flowers – and Svenja Huth in particular had the first tears. “It gets very emotional for both of us – first and foremost for Dzseni, but also for me as a reference person“, she had previously said and Marozsan as “Great man with a heart of gold” described.
Marozsan comes in the 64th minute
The 112th and last international match of the noble technician lasted 30 minutes including stoppage time. With every action, Marozsan was cheered on by the 32,587 spectators in Nuremberg, hoping she could turn things around in her last game. But unlike in so many other games, the attacking midfielder wasn’t able to help with her class this time.
German zero series ends
Brazil controlled the game from the start. Gabi Nunes had the first big chance in the fifth minute, but her header just missed the crossbar. Ann-Kathrin Berger, who replaced the ailing Merle Frohms (back problems) after her top performance against the Netherlands (1-0), would not have had a chance.
A little later, the goalkeeper was in the spotlight again – and was unlucky. Standing free in front of Berger, Gabi Nunes put the ball too far in front of her, but the 32-year-old couldn’t get hold of it. Brazil’s captain Tamires used the rebound to make it 1-0 for the guests (11th minute). It was the first goal conceded for the German team since losing the European Championship final against England (1:2) last year.
Berger also unsuccessful with the second goal
After 20 minutes, the DFB team got into the game better, at least for a short time, and acted more offensively. Alexandra Popp had the first chance with a free kick from 24 meters out, but Leticia Santos was there in the Brazilian goal (23′). The Germany striker was an invigorating element at this stage compared to her poor showing in the 1-0 win over the Netherlands when she wasn’t in the starting XI.
But Brazil scored the second goal. And again Berger looked unhappy, but in the end he was the main victim. Ary Borges took a short corner, then cut a cross to the goal and the ball went past all the players and the German goalkeeper into the far corner (38′). Frohms and Berger were there against the Netherlands when their opponents had numerous chances, but they lacked the necessary luck against Brazil.
“We started really badly, we weren’t on the field at all for the first 15 minutes, we played backwards straight away, we didn’t get into our game at all. When we got into the game, we were already 1-0 down.”Voss-Tecklenburg analyzed: “All in all, it was not enough in many areas today.”
DFB team still far from World Cup form
The “Selecao” then controlled the game, but no longer went on the offensive with determination. Nevertheless, the guests were the more dangerous team, had more ball possession and did not let the German women develop. After an hour there was no sign of a turn.
National player Svenja Huth saw a lot of slight play errors and an error rate that was too high: “Then you keep getting into counterattack situations and going backwards hurts. That’s why we weren’t able to put as many accents up front to put pressure on Brazil.”
The spectators hoped in vain that the German team radiated danger. Only in the last few minutes did the DFB team come up with offensive actions, but Jule Brand did not manage to get more than the goal back in the second minute of added time. The first defeat of the World Cup year remained the same – which showed that the DFB team still had a lot of work to do before the World Cup in New Zealand (July 20th to August 20th).