Wednesday 20th October 2021
“Makes you awake and sensitized”
Israel trip offers DFB-Elf more than football
In the World Cup qualification, the national women’s soccer team in Israel competes. It’s not just about the result, but also about personal growth and a “social mandate”. For an Israeli soccer player, these will be the “games of a lifetime”.
With the first Hebrew vocabulary in their repertoire, the German soccer players left for Tel Aviv well prepared. During the historic international match trip to Israel, the DFB selection should not only collect points for the World Cup ticket, but also impressions for life.
A small delegation with some players will visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Friday. “For us Germans it is a special place that makes people more alert and sensitized,” said national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg before the first women’s international match against Israel on Thursday (6pm / sportschau.de) in Petach Tikwa. The 53-year-old has already experienced the haunting memory in Yad Vashem of the victims of the Nazi atrocities. She would like to fulfill a “social mandate” there again, as some DFB delegations with junior teams have done in the past.
If the strict corona rules on site permit, the entire tour group will then explore the historic old town of Jerusalem. Therefore, the DFB team will not return until Saturday to prepare for the second leg on Tuesday (4:05 p.m. / ARD) in Essen.
In terms of sport, the requirement is clear
Immediately after the meeting in Düsseldorf on Monday evening, the German team got in the mood for the special trip with a seminar. In addition to a small vocabulary, the “curriculum” included historical backgrounds and a virtual tour. The players’ senses are sharpened. “We are also happy to travel to Israel as ambassadors and want to explore the country,” said Giulia Gwinn from Bayern Munich, who is making her comeback in the national team 13 months after a cruciate ligament rupture.
The sporting mandate is clear anyway: After two clear home wins against Bulgaria and Serbia in September, six more points are to be found in order to consolidate the table lead in Group H in qualifying for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The national coach expects a “proud and physically strong” Israeli team and after the most recently completely sleepy initial phases demanded immediate “presence and goal danger”.
Otherwise, Israel’s key player Sharon Beck from 1. FC Köln could cause problems. The German-Israeli, who was nominated for the DFB squad in 2018, goes into the encounters with a special motivation. “These will be the games of my life,” said the 26-year-old, who still wore the German jersey in the U national team and decided a little later for her father’s home country.