The injuries in the German team are still echoing when they leave for Down Under. The national coach is still optimistic.
With somewhat subdued anticipation, the German soccer players said goodbye to the World Cup at Frankfurt Airport.
“An event like this doesn’t leave us cold. It’s still very emotional,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on Tuesday evening before the departure of the tournament co-favorite in Frankfurt, referring to the injured Carolin Simon. The FC Bayern defender tore a cruciate ligament in the friendly defeat against Zambia and has to stay at home.
Carolin Simon almost “in the luggage”
“But we will take Caro with us and play for the most part,” said Voss-Tecklenburg. The battered defender Marina Hegering (bruised heel) has been running again, but is still in pain. In the case of Lena Oberdorf’s (both VfL Wolfsburg) muscle injuries, you have to “look at them every day”, making a prognosis difficult. The vice European champions fly to Dubai with the airline Emirates, from where the long journey continues to Sydney.
Base Camp almost 100 kilometers north of Sydney
The travel entourage comprises a total of 70 people, including Joti Chatzialexiou, Head of National Teams at the DFB. The only mother in the team is midfielder Melanie Leupolz (Chelsea FC) with her son. Part of the support team had already flown out in the afternoon. The DFB women have their base camp in Wyong, a town of 4,500 in the state of New South Wales, almost 100 kilometers north of Sydney. The German team is expected there on Thursday morning (local time).
Voss-Tecklenburg “optimistic”
“I’m totally optimistic because I trust our players and the team,” said Voss-Tecklenburg. “I hope we push ourselves to the limit in every game.” Your team had weakened in the last two friendlies against Vietnam (2-1) and Zambia (2-3).
Goal scorer Alexandra Popp seemed in a good mood. “I took the time to do a presentation about the animal species that are coming our way,” said the Storm star. “The most venomous animals in the world didn’t go over so well,” she laughed.
The first preliminary round game is on July 24 in Melbourne against Morocco (10:30 a.m. CEST/ZDF). The other opponents in Group H are Colombia on July 30 (11:30 a.m. CEST/ARD) in Sydney and South Korea on August 3 (12:00 p.m. CEST/ZDF) in Brisbane. As a group winner, the German selection could also contest the quarters and semi-finals as well as the final in Sydney. However, France and Brazil are already threatening strong opponents in the round of 16.