Horst Hrubesch and his staff have spent many hours with the German women’s soccer team on the training ground over the past few days to simulate emergency conditions and prepare the team as best as possible for an important duel.
The national coach was aware of this, however, that the encounter with the French selection will not only be based on physical fitness, but above all in the mind: “Who wants it more?” The 72-year-old came up with this catchy formula when assessing the team Starting point for the semi-final game in the Nations League.
On Friday evening he realized with regret that his “girls”, as the 72-year-old prefers to call the players, were not in a position to shape the events in Lyon as they wished: they lost 2-1. Due to the defeat, the German Football Association’s selection missed the final of the competition and thus missed the first match point to qualify for the Olympics in Paris. “We weren’t brave enough in the first half and played a bit of scary football. We were more present in the second half,” said goal scorer Giulia Gwinn after the game.
Delayed confirmation
In the final, the French will meet the Spanish world champions, who defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the parallel encounter in Cádiz. A consolation for the Germans: With the game for third place, they still have a chance to earn participation in the Summer Games with a win this Wednesday in Holland.
With a lot of persuasion, which was intended to ensure their own strength, Hrubesch appealed to the players not to be unsettled by the atmosphere in the stadium, which was attended by 30,267 spectators, but rather to draw motivation from it. That only worked to a limited extent.
His announcement that the German team would choose a courageous approach was only confirmed with a delay. A positional error by Marina Hegering gave Eugénie Le Sommer the chance to take the lead (5th minute). The German defense also fended off Kadidiatou Diani’s attempt (11th) with concentrated strength before they took the initiative, driven by Alexandra Popp, but did not make enough of their opportunities. A header from Popp (15th) and shots from Klara Bühl (18th, 30th) went just wide.
The French women are almost always there on time. : Image: dpa
The French demonstrated that they are more consistent in pursuing their goals. After a free kick, the ball landed at Diani, who scored from a distance to make it 1-0 (41st). And before the break, the Germans helped things get even better for “Les Bleues”.
First, Hegering let Le Sommer steal the ball, which resulted in a counterattack that Lena Oberdorf prevented with a tackle – and knocked Grace Geyoro off her feet in the penalty area. Sakina Karchaoui converted the penalty to make it 2-0 (45th).
Marc Heinrich, Lyon Published/Updated: Christian Kamp Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 6 Marc Heinrich, Frankfurt Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2
Hrubesch changed his plan in the second section, in which he had hoped for more power from the dual leadership of Popp and Lea Schüller. By bringing in Jule Brand (for Svenja Huth), Sydney Lohmann (for Lea Schüller) and Sara Däbritz (for Martina Hegering), the Germans gained the upper hand in midfield. But after Popp hit the crossbar (72nd), a converted hand penalty from Gwinn only brought the goal back (81st), and the Germans couldn’t manage any more. This means that in Heerenveen it is now: all or nothing.