Football European Championship-DFB women with mental weakness: does it have to be the title?

At the European Championship, the second matchday of the group phase is over when the German footballers have already “achieved the first goal”. So Bernd Neuendorf described the early move into the quarter -finals. This is not a deep stacking from the President of the German Football Association (DFB), similarly sounding reluctance could also be heard from the team. And yes, The group C This EM is by no means a light. But at the DFB they also seem to have learned from the past. Because the women had failed for the first time in the preliminary round at the last World Cup, the embarrassment was all the greater for the president: Neuendorf missed the tournament because he only wanted to travel to Australia for the round of 16.

Now Neuendorf is not only in Switzerland to look at football games, he also campaigns strongly for a European 2029 European Championship in Germany. When the DFB President spoke about the German footballers in Zurich on Wednesday, he also said that this application was very busy in the background. On Saturday he will sit again in the stadium when it comes to the group’s end against the Swedes.

Desire and reality

It is time for new goals for the DFB women. “We want to win the group,” said captain and defense chief Janina Minge not only with a view to the upcoming duel. Because the group winner could hit the world champions from Spain, which were previously outstanding, in the final at the earliest. This is exactly where the German footballers want to go. And if you want to become a reality from the formulated title request, you have to increase significantly. Because not only the technically strong Spaniards make a better impression with their playing playing. The tactically disciplined defending champions from England brought their offensive force to the square on Wednesday 4: 0 against the Dutch. With a mixture of both playing styles, the newly formed French team also belongs in the favorite group, the opening victory against England followed a weaker appearance on Wednesday evening at 4-1 against Wales.

These games will also have looked at the German and Swedish footballers, after all, their respective opponent comes from this group D. However, if you will be concrete, you seem to be secondary, because both teams ultimately prefer to look at themselves. “We want to win against Germany,” says Sweden’s captain Kosovare Asllani no room for doubt. The opponents of the DFB women would be enough for a group victory in Zurich on Saturday in Zurich. “Because we are better,” said defender Nathalie Björn immediately why they will win.

Easy to impress

For the DFB women, the game against the self-confident Swedes comes at the right time: after the opening victory against Poland and the hard-won 2-1 win against Denmark, the quality of the opponent increases again. In the style of this often described “tournament teams”, the team of national coach Christian Wück can now show that it is able to play better football.

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The German footballers showed what they can do on Tuesday against Denmark. Against a good, but with limited agents, the DFB team managed to build pressure from a stable defense and to generate the risk of scoring. However, this very hopeful team is still too easy to impress – and thus makes the opponent strong. The German team had dominated the action in the first 20 minutes until the leading goal was announced by the video evidence. Then the break: Suddenly the Danishes were present, caused danger with simple moves and outnumbered for danger and soon took the lead.

Wiggle with resistance

“We got three neck strokes,” analyzed Wück. By this he meant the invalid management gate, the gap and the penalty, which was also withdrawn at the end of the first half by video evidence. “That does something with a team,” says the national coach. Even if all of this was packed in subordinate clauses, it is always astonishing. And by no means expedient: no game has been won with excuses. But even the players referred to these scenes and the long interruptions to explain the adversities of the game. So if it is really true that the right decisions of the video referee influence the team in such a way, this is a mental weakness that urgently needs to work.

When the team meets resistances, it still wobbles. According to the breaks in the recent past, this is understandable with coaching changes, resignations of players and the rebuild under Wück. Perhaps the big goals should also be redefined. It doesn’t always have to be the same: The DFB men showed that an EM can become successful without a trophy even without a trophy. With the victory against Denmark, women showed that they are on the right track.