National coach Christian Wück (right) wants to consolidate the team structure with the German footballers in the Nations League.
Photo: dpa/Arne Dedert
The football of women is not spared from a certain transience. For a while it is for a while that millions of fans were looking forward to Breda when the German national team played its opening game against Sweden in this tranquil city in the province of Noord-Brabant in the province of Noord-Brabant. At that time the national coach Steffi Jones was on the line in the half full council. The goal was guarding Almuth Schult, the defense headed Babett Peter, the midfield conducted Dzsenifer Marozsan and Anja Mittag stormed in the attack.
The only fade zero number came out, and soon after a defeat against Denmark the tournament was already over, which the German footballers had almost won in an endless loop until then. Instead of the eightfold European champion, Holland cheered on the first European Championship triumph of his women.
If the Netherlands and Germany now meet again in Breda for the National League start, the teams are located at eye level. “You are at a level with us,” said national coach Christian Wück on Thursday. The “Oranje Leeuwinnen”, which has been strengthened since that home tournament in 2017, still have the Vice World Cup 2019, the DFB selection can recently refer to the 2024 Olympic bronze after the 2022 Vice Championship.
Wücks towards Andries Jonker, who will stop after the European Championship in Switzerland in July, still had a team of high quality together, the national coach emphasized: »You will put us under pressure and press them high. But we do not have to hide. ”Almost exactly one year ago, the DFB selection in the fight for the last Olympic ticket in Heerenveen under interim coach Horst Hrubesch had the better end in the 2-0 win. Hrubescht’s successor Wück again confirmed at the final press conference in Breda that he had a different procedure with a much more active style. “We play differently than Horst wanted,” said the 51-year-old.
In the test games against England (4: 3), Australia (1: 2), Switzerland (6: 0) and Italy (1: 2), there were- also due to many changes- the entire range of advantages and disadvantages from Wück’s new approach. That is why the national coach now wants to “consolidate the scaffolding” and with every game – the next one on Tuesday in Nuremberg against Austria – “make” stronger. Easier said than done. Because in some positions, quality not only lacks, but also the consistency for some time.
Sports director Nia Künzer also admitted this before the game in Holland, who nevertheless knows from his own experience that the lead before big tournaments is only limited. Similar to Künzer after a total of four cruciate ligament tears, Lena Oberdorf is currently fighting for the return. The German ensemble is currently missing the physical presence of the 22-year-olds.
It is all the more precise how Chelseas Sjoeke Nüsken and Elisa Sense from Eintracht Frankfurt make themselves in central midfield. At the front, Selina Çerçi and Giovanna Hoffmann have to demonstrate goal danger at an international level. And then there is the defense in which Rebecca Knaak made her debut. The former defender of SC Freiburg and Bayer Leverkusen did not have to go to FC Rosengaard in Sweden until 2022 and now switched to Manchester City this winter to be interesting for the DFB. She is now 28 years old. She hadn’t really expected the nomination, as she grinned at Wück’s side: “Honestly, I personally no longer had the topic of national team on my screen.”
Knaak should now continue to switch to the English Women’s Super League, in which it might also move national players such as Wolfsburg’s Jule Brand or Klara Bühl: “It is extremely intense, somehow cool to have to go to the performance limit in every game.” England is “better than others”. The fact that Jill Roord and Vivianne Miedema “Two Dutch exceptional footballers” are now their teammates at Manchester City could not be more appropriate for Knaak’s first use in the DFB team.