The DFB team conceded a bitter defeat against Colombia at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. A header after a corner deep in stoppage time is crucial. This annoys the team massively. The own exploitation of chances according to standards also falls far short of their own aspirations.
Petrified expressions on one side, complete ecstasy on the other. Even before kick-off, the many Colombian fans had transformed the Sydney Football Stadium into a home game temple. But when Manuela Vanegas scored the 2-1 winner in the 7th minute of stoppage time and then a short time later at the final whistle, the crowd set a new volume record that evening. Won against the vice European champions from Germany. In the second game of the World Cup group stage, not in the final, that didn’t stop either the players or the fans from cheering.
The German national players, on the other hand, were properly served. The high fives with the opponents took place with empty faces, their heads hanging off the pitch as they walked. They had just robbed themselves of the hard-fought draw, and Alexandra Popp was only able to equalize with a penalty in the 89th minute. But like last time in the friendly against Zambia (2:3), the draw didn’t last long. “You have to go out of the game 1-1, there’s no question about that,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg after the game.
But she couldn’t really blame her team, she said somewhat helplessly: “The team had the feeling that we still wanted to make it 2-1.” And that is ultimately a commendable attitude. However, the ripped-off attitude of being satisfied with one point and paying attention to the result football at the tournament was missing.
Svenja Huth, who again played as an offensive right-back, also noticed this: “Does the corner have to happen at all?” she asked. “After the 1-1 you have to play at least a draw. Of course we were on the trigger again and hoped for the lucky punch.” With one point, Germany would have it in its own hands to finish first in the group. Colombia decides on the outcome of Group H. However, the DFB team still has it in their own hands to reach the round of 16 at least as runners-up.
Corner kick caught unnecessarily
“You have to play backwards. I don’t think Colombia would have run into us,” said Voss-Tecklenburg about the scene that decided the game. However, in injury time, Germany established themselves in the opposition’s penalty area before the Colombians countered again. Kathrin Hendrich had to save when Mayra Ramirez shot from a good twelve meters in the direction of the short corner, the central defender got her foot in between and cleared the corner.
To the very last standard that ultimately decided the final score. Leicy Santos circled the ball to Vanegas, who was completely free in the center and headed the ball into the bottom right corner with power and precision. The assignment of the field players did not fit, DFB goalkeeper Merle Frohms was powerless. “We were too deep,” judged Lina Magull, who had long since been substituted at the time, but who also emphasized: “She probably doesn’t always hit the header like that.” Oberdorf called it operated a “stupid standard gate”.
A corner also preceded Colombia’s first goal by the much-touted ‘child prodigy’ Linda Caicedo. The Germans didn’t get a corner cleared properly, the 18-year-old prevailed against Sara Däbritz and Svenja Huth and curled the ball beautifully into the right angle. “She couldn’t be seen up to the goal, that also speaks for us,” said Huth afterwards about the shooting star.
Defaults fail
It was standards that decided the game. Other standards also ran against the German team that evening – including our own. And that with a team that confidently says they want to become standard world champions. It is said that there are many variants that the team masters. Assistant coach Michael Urbansky explained before the tournament: “We have the right to: no goals conceded in the back, lots of headed goals up front.” It was very different against Colombia. Corners were too harmless or, as in the 65th minute, the conclusion was not compelling enough. After some chaos in the penalty area, the ball came back to Lena Oberdorf on the pentagon, after her chest attack she tried to pin it with her right foot in the top right corner, but missed by a few centimetres.
And their own free kicks didn’t work that evening either. Already in the sixth minute Klara Bühl crossed from the right in the direction of the far post, but the cross was clearly too high and sailed over the goal. In the 71st minute, Popp wanted to shoot into the top left corner, but was heavily in reserve, which is why the ball ultimately went well over the goal. Just four minutes later, the radar was set too low, and Bühl’s shot got stuck in the feet of the Colombian wall. Another six minutes later, an initially clear free-kick cross came to Oberdorf, but the shot was blocked by defender Daniela Arias.
However, it was also a set piece that led to Germany’s goal: a penalty that captain Popp coldly put in in the middle while Colombia goalkeeper Catalina Perez opted for the vault into the right corner. It was also the goalkeeper who made the penalty kick necessary in the first place, she had brought Oberdorf down while running into the penalty area. The 21-year-old, who is back in the starting XI after her thigh injury and doesn’t notice “anything anymore”, had cleverly bet: “We’re playing well, I briefly considered shooting,” she said of the scene in the 89th minute. “But then I thought, maybe I’d better pass it on and speculate on a penalty. And then, of course, Poppi will take it away coldly.”
But overall it was “simply not enough” in the direction of the goal, Magull said self-critically. Both she and Huth emphasized that the game on the outside, on the flanks, was missing. Nevertheless, one should “not paint everything black again. We played and fought with a lot of passion, a lot of heart,” said the woman from Wolfsburg. “Colombia was very effective, felt they had two chances and got two goals from them.”
Group victory not in their own hands
Should this South Korea in the final group game (August 3, 12 p.m./ZDF and in the ntv.de live ticker) also succeed if the DFB team would have to rely on Colombia’s support to reach the round of 16. “It will be a similar game – with the mentality. You are very disciplined against the ball, sometimes rushing into duels uncontrollably,” said Oberdorf. “So we have to let the ball run fast and take advantage of the scoring chances.” But she didn’t want to speak of great fear: “What does the tremor mean, of course you’re more tense than when you’re first in the group with six points, but we still know what we can do.”
The national coach doesn’t want to be persuaded either: “Everyone always plays at the limit against Germany or against larger nations,” says Voss-Tecklenburg, but “worrying doesn’t help.” The team doesn’t have to change anything about the attitude, according to Oberdorf in the mixed zone: “If you knew how things are going in our training. In the four-on-four tournament, there’s a bad mood sometimes because we fuck up like that. There there’s real fire in there.” Fire much needed against South Korea.