Merle Frohms feels the tingling in her legs.
Photo: image/Eibner
When the German footballers turned off in the bus on the northern side of the Yarra bank between cloud-covered skyscrapers into Melbourne Park, the sight was impressive despite the gloomy weather: the floodlights in the huge bowl of the Melbourne Cricket Ground shone, the tennis courts with the Rod Laver Arena testified to the size of the Australian Open, while an A-League game of the footballers from Melbourne City FC was in the John Cain Arena ran. The bus brought the German women’s national team to Albert Park for the final training session, where Formula 1 also hosts a Grand Prix once a year. This Monday, the DFB women are playing their first World Cup group game against Morocco in the Rectangular Stadium, which nestles almost modestly in this opulent area of top-class sport.
National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg issued a simple longing for the offensively formulated title mission in order to leave a first scent mark at this tournament. May one at the World Cup “hopefully repeat what distinguished us at the European Championships”. Who may have forgotten: an ensemble that acts “aggressively, intensively and attractively” and that “plays courageous, self-confident, active football.” The good quality of the squad, they argue, makes that possible. Despite all life experience, the 55-year-old felt some tension: the international season was too mixed for that, and there are probably too important players missing for that.
The football teacher, who appeared at the press conference in a black blazer and beige blouse, was not in the least ready to confirm the possible injury-related absences of Marina Hegering, Lena Oberdorf and Sjoeke Nüsken. “I can only say that there will be all players in the squad,” was her poor information. However, no player should appear who has a residual risk. “Anything else wouldn’t be smart – we want to do more than just one game.” Janina Minge, who was nominated as the 24th squad member, is to travel back after the Morocco game because the DFB squad is now final.
The experienced trainer knows her big job at this globally recognized event. “Like last year, actually like always, we want to take people with us, emotionalize them.” Also happy: Giving a smile, representing values. Expectations and attention are far greater than at the 2019 World Cup, after Voss-Tecklenburg had only taken up the DFB office six months earlier. That France experience began with a hard-fought 1-0 win over China. Such a tough struggle with physical borderline experiences can now happen again against the North Africans. “We expect a very stubborn opponent, an opponent who will leave everything on the pitch.”
The national coach once again had the strongest effect with her large, overarching messages. The world champions from the USA (3-0 against Vietnam), the European champions from England (1-0 against Haiti) or third in the world rankings Sweden (2-1 against South Africa) would not have found it difficult in their first appearances at the weekend. “When you saw the start of this World Cup, exactly what we said came true: the whole world in women’s football has moved closer together.” Now such a World Cup is a much greater challenge »than 20 or 30 years ago when I was still allowed to play«.
As recently as 2015 in Canada, the generation around Nadine Angerer, Annike Krahn and Simone Laudehr met Ivory Coast in the first World Cup game, but the ensemble trained by Silvia Neid played cat and mouse on artificial turf in Ottawa with overwhelmed Africans. In the end it was 10:0. Voss-Tecklenburg emphasized that these days things are no longer a sure-fire success. Nonetheless, a win against Morocco, who are in Fifa world rankings 72nd, must be a must, especially since the DFB team will then be more challenged against Colombia in Sydney and South Korea in Brisbane.
First of all, everyone in the team is happy that after a month of preparation, the starting gun is finally sounding. “My legs are starting to tingle,” reported goalkeeper Merle Frohms. The entourage from the “wasteland”, as midfielder Lena Lattwein called the camp in Wyong, left by bus on Sunday morning and then flew to Melbourne via Newcastle, where the Australian winter can be unpleasant. Complaints about distances and weather changes are not allowed for captain Alexandra Popp: “Our group has advantages and disadvantages. But we got a good deal in terms of travel, so we can’t complain about that.« And not really about the opponents and venues either.
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