On Tuesday the international game year begins for the German national team against Sweden. The team can basically already answer the question of how it started in this very same place. The public just doesn’t know the answer yet, they weren’t allowed to watch the launch. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has spent the past few days with her players in Marbella, Spain, training under palm trees, so to speak, after the long break since the game against the USA in mid-November, to prepare together again and concentrate on the next tasks.
One of them is immediately: to win against permanent rival Sweden at the official start in Duisburg (6.15 p.m., ZDF) in front of more than 18,000 spectators, including Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Basically, in 2023 there will be one single challenge that will dominate everything: the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from July 20th to August 20th.
In preparation for this, the program at the Marbella Football Center also included a game against Ireland, twice for half an hour and once for 45 minutes. Both associations agreed not to announce the result, goal scorers or even the line-up, so speculation can be lively: Was the national coach happy about a win? Was she surprised by a draw? Or mad about a loss? Voss-Tecklenburg did not reveal that, she summed up “we are very satisfied today that everything went so well”. That should apply above all to the priorities set in this game: “We also tried something out tactically. It was important to us that we have pictures there to prepare, not just for the Sweden game, but above all for long-term development. “
The self-confidence is so great that the third world title is the goal
A year ago, at this time of year, nobody really knew how the Germans were to be classified internationally. The 2016 Olympic gold was followed by disillusionment instead of success. But then the national team made such an impressive comeback on the big stage by reaching the final of the 2022 European Championships that it can be counted among the title candidates, maybe even favorites, at the World Cup. The reigning world champion USA, who lost one of two friendlies against the DFB women for the first time in 19 years, has known that since November.
Focus on the World Cup year: national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg wants to further develop the tactical flexibility of her team.
(Photo: Michael Memmler/dpa)
“We as a team found each other during the European Championships,” said Alexandra Popp, “we want to build on that and take the flow and the hype with us in order to further develop our own strengths – and to do it a little better at the World Cup.” The self-confidence is now so great that the captain, her teammates and also the national coach do not rule out that their further development could lead to the third World Cup title after 2003 and 2007. “It couldn’t be overlooked that we created something magical during the tournament,” said Felicitas Rauch. “We took the next step and have been on a different level with each other since then.”
But how well can “something magical” be preserved? How do you transport momentum from one tournament to the next with as few accidents as possible? Voss-Tecklenburg also resorted to the tried and tested, in winter the 55-year-old withdrew to the Black Forest for a few days with her coaching team to work on a joint plan. Some of the fellow travelers were already on the first trip of this kind in 2022, for some it was the premiere. The assistant coaches Patrik Grolimund and Thomas Nörenberg have left the team, the former U19 junior coach Michael Urbansky and Julius Balsmeier as athletic coach are new.
In Marbella, as the footballers revealed at press conferences, a lot of work was done on tactical flexibility. Voss-Tecklenburg wants her team to be even more dangerous and surprising, and it is better to switch to another system during a game so that the opponent is less predictable. Possibly it is already being tested against Sweden how well that worked.
The German national players have unpleasant memories of this opponent. At the 2019 World Cup, Voss-Tecklenburg’s first tournament as national coach, she lost to Sweden in the quarterfinals. But that was well before EM 2022.