European Championship qualification “wake-up call” for DFB women: Hrubesch remains composed
The German women’s football team around Sjoeke Nüsken (r) lost in Iceland. Photo
© Brynjar Gunnarsson/dpa
The women’s national team has to gather itself in the cold of Reykjavik. The DFB team has not lost by such a large margin since 2018. A bitter setback just before the Olympics.
Horst Hrubesch obviously did not want to give up his hopes of an Olympic medal after the biggest defeat of his two terms in office with the German women’s football team. “I have no concerns now, I think that was the right warning shot,” said the 73-year-old, and after the 0:3 (0:1) defeat in Iceland he said: “I still have a good feeling, that is not the problem.”
Just two weeks before the first challenge against Australia at the Summer Games, the ambitious DFB women and the national coach have become disillusioned. The German selection was lacking in almost everything in the penultimate tough test at the European Championship qualifier in Reykjavik and now wants to do better next Tuesday (7 p.m./ARD) in Hanover against Austria. Around 40,000 fans are expected there before the selection says goodbye to the Olympics.
“You could see that we were on holiday beforehand. Getting back on track was difficult,” said Hrubesch. “But one thing is also clear: we have to accept these challenges from the start, and what we played was simply bad.” The defeat was deserved, even at this level.
“Many, many wrong decisions”
“You could also see that we helped with all three goals ourselves,” criticised the 1980 European champion. “We often made many, many wrong decisions going forward.” It was the heaviest defeat of his two previous terms with the DFB women. The last time the national team lost so heavily was in March 2018 under Steffi Jones (0:3 against France) – it was her last game as coach in charge.
Hrubesch had temporarily taken over the position at the time and last year again stepped in for the ill Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. After the World Cup debacle in Australia, the HSV idol had brought the team back on track and to the Olympics. In twelve degrees and against the robust Icelandic team, the German players, who had already qualified for the 2025 European Championship, suffered a bitter setback.
World champion Spain also slips up
Full-back Sarai Linder spoke of a “wake-up call”, while centre-back Kathrin Hendrich spoke of a “wake-up call”. In the end, no one mentioned the fact that captain Alexandra Popp (foot irritation), Lena Oberdorf (yellow card suspension) and Sydney Lohmann (muscle problems) were missing and that defence chief Marina Hegering was rested. The players who played were too disappointed with themselves.
At the Olympics, the DFB women, gold medal winners in Rio in 2016 with coach Silvia Neid, will face Australia (July 25), the USA (July 28) and Zambia (July 31) in the preliminary round. But they were not the only ones to slip up on Friday evening: the world champions from Spain lost 1:2 in the Czech Republic, number 30 in the FIFA world rankings.
dpa
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