Nations League
Hrubesch team has to worry about the Olympics: “It’s not over yet”
Alexandra Popp and Horst Hrubesch want to go to the Olympics. photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Are German soccer players good enough for the Olympics? The decider is now taking place in the Netherlands.
After a training session, the players were able to take a look at the city at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône – Sara Däbritz, as a midfielder for Olympique Lyon, naturally had some tips for her colleagues. The national team around captain Alexandra Popp will only fly to Heerenveen on Tuesday. The game for third place in the Nations League against the Oranje selection of experienced head coach Andries Jonker on Wednesday (8.45 p.m./ZDF) is the last chance for the DFB women to still get the ticket for the games in Paris (July 26th to August 11th).
“First of all, I’m glad that we still have the chance. Of course we could have closed the bag somehow today,” said Popp. “But it is what it is now and we really have to combine all our strengths and we have to be clear that we have to get everything out of it from the first to the last minute.” Right from the start, her team didn’t play football “really courageously” and “clearly” on Friday evening: “That’s what’s been with us over the last few months, that there’s a fundamental lack of consistency.”
Last title in 2016 in Rio
The German women won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 – it was the last title to date for the two-time world champions and eight-time European champions of the DFB, who have long been spoiled for success. If Popp and Co. had to watch summer games for the second time in a row after Tokyo, it would be another bitter setback for the German Football Association after the World Cup debacle in Australia in 2023.
“We simply made too many mistakes,” said Hrubesch after the lesson against the French in front of 30,267 spectators, but assured: “The story is not over yet.” Penalty scorer Giulia Gwinn from FC Bayern put it this way: “We weren’t brave enough in the first half, we played a bit of scary football.”
In any case, Hrubesch’s tactics with the dual leadership of Popp/Lea Schüller were hardly effective. Also because there weren’t enough crosses coming from the wings (Svenja Huth, Klara Bühl) and there was a gap in the attacking midfield. This was then filled when Däbritz and Jule Brand were also substituted on, especially Sydney Lohmann: As almost always when the Bayern player was brought on in the past, something changed in the German game – even if it was too little in the end.
First defeat for Hrubesch
In his second term as interim coach after 2018, Hrubesch experienced his first defeat in the 13th game. However, his confidence in the players ahead of the challenge against the Netherlands, who lost 3-0 to the world champions from Spain, remains high. “I know this team very well. I know what they’re capable of,” he said, but also held them accountable: “On the one hand, I believe in them. On the other hand, they have all the qualities, but they have to do everything for it. 90 percent are not enough.”
If the 2022 European runners-up lose again in Herrenveen, Hrubesch’s Olympic mission would have failed and the DFB would have to present the successor as quickly as possible. Especially since qualification for the 2025 European Championships in Switzerland starts in April.
According to the new sports director Nia Künzer, the association is prepared for all scenarios and a coach’s name has not yet been leaked. “Of course we want to do everything we can to ensure that Horst stays with us in the next few weeks and months,” said goalkeeper Merle Frohms, referring to Paris. “We all really want to go there. Not just for Horst, but because it’s such a big dream for every athlete.”
One can be proud of the second half against France, Bühl reported on Hrubesch’s words in the circle after the final whistle. “We just have to take that with us,” said the Munich native. The second chance – “we have to use it, we want to use it.”