Motivational calls echoed through the stadium in Norwich, England, both teams were ready for the international match, the Canadian soccer players in red jerseys, the Germans in black and white. Kick-off – Klara Bühl sprinted into the opposing half as she is used to. Only this time she was the only thing she realized after five or six meters. Everyone else around them had knelt on the lawn as a sign against racism. While Bühl abruptly stopped her run and also knelt down, captain Lina Magull struggled for composure, Laura Freigang grinned, Nicole Anyomi was just able to suppress a smile. Above all, Anyomi was happy that such a scene could even come about because space was given to an important gesture. And she was happy to see it all on the pitch.
The fact that she is part of the German national team is also relevant for the 22-year-old for a socio-political reason. Her parents come from Ghana and Togo, for Anyomi a knee like the one before the Canada game has a very personal meaning. A few days after the killing of African American George Floyd by a police officer in the USA, she did not celebrate after her goal in the quarter-finals of the cup against Potsdam in June 2020 – but was the first in the women’s Bundesliga to show this gesture against racism.
“It’s a very, very important topic for me because I’ve been confronted with it again and again in everyday life. And as a national player I have much more reach,” Anyomi said on Monday. She wants to convey to her fellow players how it feels: “I was lucky that I didn’t experience racism as bad as others, I know that from my friends.” But she has already experienced that people sit away from her on the train and bus or that she is looked at strangely.
Anyomi shows how dynamic and agile she can move on offense
It is also these experiences that allowed Anyomi to grow into a reflective athlete at an early age. That makes them all the more valuable for the German national team. She came on as a substitute in the second half of the Arnold Clark Cup opener against Spain (1-1) and started the second game against Canada (0-1) on Sunday evening. Anyomi benefits from the fact that other established players are absent from this preparatory tournament for the European Championship in England (July 6th to 31st), which is so important for the German women’s selection. Injured or due to a Covid 19 infection, director Dzsenifer Marozsán, Melanie Leupolz, Alexandra Popp and Svenja Huth cannot be there. A total of 14 players reported to national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg.
The national coach has enough topics on which she can work with the national team regarding the European Championships in July. But she doesn’t have to worry about future talent at the moment.
(Photo: Richard Lee/Shutterstock/imago)
Against strong opponents such as Spain with world footballer Alexia Putellas, Olympic champion Canada and finally on Wednesday (8.30 p.m., zdf.de) against World Cup semi-finalists England, there are more players who would otherwise have had little or no playing time. Anyomi is one of them – and she should have already improved her position, with her performance she clearly stood out. “She’s a win for us,” said Voss-Tecklenburg after the game against Canada: “She showed in many scenes how much speed she has, how she can hurt the opponent, how many good decisions she can make.” The 54-year-old also liked other young players like Jana Feldkamp, Jule Brand and Sophia Kleinherne with their appearance: “But for me Nicole Anyomi was very noticeable today and I was happy about that.”
The DFB team lacked structure, calmness and precision against the Canadians. Nevertheless, like against the Spaniards, the Germans were able to keep up at a high international level. That’s not enough for a successful European Championship, but it is definitely a realization given the decimated, uncoordinated formation – and after a series of games in which the German national players had not previously been challenged. Anyomi showed how dynamic and agile she can move on offense. In addition, she appeared robust, anything but reserved. She had ideas and was difficult to stop in what was only her fourth international match thanks to her speed on the flank. Her conclusion was: “I can do more, there’s more in me.”
Anyomi had recently been struggling with a knee injury for a long time. Born in Krefeld, she made her Bundesliga debut at the age of 16 for SGS from Essen, where she once went to sports boarding school. But when she switched to Eintracht Frankfurt last summer, she had to slow down. She was first nominated for the DFB selection in October 2020, after which she was out of the question for several months – until now. “I was out a year and was surprised by the invitation,” Anyomi said on Monday: “But you can see that things can happen quickly if you perform well.” For them, the European Championship is a big goal – not just for sporting reasons.