“I prefer to stand on the pitch”: Martina Voss-Tecklenburg Image: dpa
In an interview, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg talks about the biggest mistake that could happen at the World Cup and about the people who made her the person she is today.
As a player you have been European champion four times, but never world champion, which was also due to the fact that FIFA only decided in 1991 to finally organize the first World Cup tournament in China. For the DFB team it was over in the semi-finals. What memories do you have of the beginnings of this competition?
In fact, it was a great semi-final against USA, they were great opponents and really superior to us. Also physically. That was a real eye-opener, because as a player you quickly realize if you have a chance of winning, and that wasn’t the case. Against Sweden, in the game for third place, I was completely out of breath and I fell badly on my shoulder. It was literally a journey home in pain. The World Cup itself was incredibly exhausting. Up until then I had never had such sore muscles because we played every second or third day, weren’t really prepared for it and still gave everything. This World Cup was a milestone in the development of women’s football and a logical step after there was already a European Championship. Once we went to a training session where 6,000 Chinese cheered us on. They probably didn’t really know why they were there, and neither did we. But it was nice.