The situation surrounding national coach Voss-Tecklenburg, who is taking a break, is more than complicated. The national players don’t want any distractions, but they let us take a deep look. Captain Popp is out.
The tone becomes rougher. Warm words? The German national soccer players don’t have much time for Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who is taking a break.
Immediately before the next international matches, the players evaded clear questions about the national coach’s future or answered diplomatically – midfield ace Lena Oberdorf even clearly criticized Voss-Tecklenburg. “It gives me a few question marks, of course. I would have wished for something different. To say: OK, let’s first clarify what happened at the World Cup,” complained Oberdorf when it became public that Voss-Tecklenburg had already been announced before the World Cup gave lectures again on the World Cup reappraisal, which was still open.
“We as a team have completely different things on our minds. This is the Olympics. We don’t have the right to interfere in many things,” said midfielder Linda Dallmann before the important Nations League game on Friday in Sinsheim Wales (5.45 p.m./ARD). Victories in the Nations League should lead the selection to the 2024 Olympics in Paris – and to a quick turnaround under interim coach Horst Hrubesch.
Captain Popp is out
The fact that captain Alexandra Popp, the top player, is out due to muscular problems shouldn’t change anything. “I don’t think we can compensate for that 100 percent, but we can compensate for it,” said Hrubesch on Thursday, after opening the press round with a crisp “Moin!” had opened. He later asked for final training in the Sinsheim Arena.
The DFB is expecting 18,500 fans there this Friday, and Hrubesch wants to inspire them with fast-paced football. “I believe in this team, in the quality they have.” Every player now has to take responsibility, “the boys have to step into the breach sometimes,” demanded the coach.
Strong dissonance between the association and the trainer
This requires free minds, but there is currently only one topic surrounding the DFB team: the Voss-Tecklenburg case. The good mood that the team in particular spread during and after the 2022 European Championship is completely gone. This also applies to the harmony in the interaction between the association’s leadership and Voss-Tecklenburg. The 55-year-old and the DFB are “currently speaking primarily” through lawyers, the DFB said. Questions about the national coach were stopped in a media round on Wednesday. On Thursday, Hrubesch explained that he had “not mentioned the issue in any way internally.”
There has been a serious crisis in German women’s football recently. The completely botched World Cup with elimination in the preliminary round in the summer, the early failure of VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League and the Voss-Tecklenburg issue, which has been bothering the DFB for almost two months now. The former player first reported sick in September, then she came back in October and initially took a vacation. At this she gave several lectures instead of pushing ahead with the World Cup. The dissonance between the association and the trainer became increasingly clear. Who speaks to whom and when? That’s not so clear right now.
The team, officially still Voss-Tecklenburg’s selection, wants to keep these discordant sounds as quiet as possible. “There are important games coming up, so I think I can speak for the team and say that the topic doesn’t have much weight right now,” said central defender Sara Doorsoun in a Sky interview.
Things look different in public. The future of Voss-Tecklenburg has top priority, the games against Wales and Iceland (October 31) are just as irrelevant as the official World Cup bid for 2027, which was announced on Wednesday.
Hrubesch wants to give the team new impulses
As a beacon of hope, the team’s good-mood veteran Hrubesch, who coached the DFB team on an interim basis in 2018, is just right. “We are very keen to implement Horst’s ideas,” said Dallmann. Hrubesch even announced that he would run to France to see the team play in Paris if they didn’t take him to the Olympics. He has no contact with Voss-Tecklenburg.
The remaining Nations League games are scheduled for December. A possible final round that Germany would have to reach for the Olympic ticket would only be in 2024. But only the first in the group advances – currently the DFB’s toughest rival Denmark, which won the direct duel 2-0 and therefore has three points more .
Like Rudi Völler, who managed to change the mood of the men in just one game, popular figure Hrubesch (72) is also said to have an old-school effect on the women. Doorsoun explained: “He is a very straightforward person. You know what you are getting from him. He wants transparency and honesty with each other and with each other. Clear statements.” In other words, things that may no longer be available to the desired extent elsewhere.
It seems impossible that Voss-Tecklenburg will return to the sidelines. However, she still has a valid contract until the 2025 European Championships. The severance payment could be expensive for the cash-strapped DFB – and is currently apparently one of the sticking points in the discussions, which are mainly taking place through lawyers.