Storm, exertion, late hour
The stress test for the DFB women has pitfalls
11/10/2022, 6:37 p.m
The grandiose year of the European Championship brought a lot of attention to the German national soccer team. Two games against the world champions from the USA now offer a glamorous end. However, the trip has its pitfalls – even for the fans who stayed at home.
Before the exciting position determination against Megan Rapinoe and Co. “Nicole” really wet the German soccer players. Harbingers of the hurricane that was brewing off Florida made it difficult for the vice European champions to prepare for part one of the test double pack at the world champion USA (1 o’clock / zdf.de) in Fort Lauderdale.
A heavy downpour caught the DFB selection in the first session in the Sunshine State, the final training session was brought forward to the extremely rainy morning due to the storm warning. Back in the dry, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg assumed “that the game can take place. Above all, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that the hurricane doesn’t cause too much damage.” With all the anticipation of “two cool games in great stadiums in front of many spectators”, the national coach had an uneasy feeling even without such forces of nature.
She repeatedly described the timing of the contractually non-postponable trip in the middle of the hot end-of-year sprint as “not ideal”. The second act of this stressful preparation for the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is scheduled for another flight on Sunday (11 p.m./sportschau.de) in Harrison/New Jersey.
“Top Level Games”
The splendid, but also exhausting year of the European Championship has already taken its toll, numerous regulars are injured. Most recently, goalscorer Lea Schüller from FC Bayern had to withdraw with knee problems. In order to be able to rotate a lot, “MVT” took a squad of 26 with them.
The European Championship heroines are certainly not lacking in motivation – the next title hunt Down Under has long been casting its shadow. “These are top-level games. We need them to take the necessary steps,” said captain Alexandra Popp. Because the Americans are still the top favorites for the title.
“The USA dominate the world class and are an opponent who is known to be physically extremely far, also very experienced,” said Linda Dallmann (Bayern Munich) about the record world champion, against whom Germany had a bitter record of only four victories in 35 duels (7 draws).
Last duel four and a half years ago
In the duel of the women’s football heavyweights, however, things have mostly been close lately. In the last meeting so far in March 2018 (0-1), a certain Megan Rapinoe made the difference with her goal in Columbus. More than four and a half years later, the cards are reshuffled in front of around 17,000 spectators in the Inter Miami stadium. “The USA had problems with Spain and England in the last two games, so you can’t say who is at what level. That makes the showdown very exciting at this point,” said Dallmann.
The chick Jule Brand was also extremely excited. The 20-year-old, who is in the USA for the first time, was looking forward to the showdown with her “role models” Rapinoe and Alex Morgan after her first long-haul flight.
However, given the ongoing EM hype, there was a lack of understanding that only live streams were scheduled for the top-class duels instead of TV broadcasts. However, fans of the DFB team can look forward to the two concluding episodes of the documentary series “Born for this”, which will be released on November 19 on Sky, Magenta and discovery+.
The free TV premiere follows on November 30 (9:15 p.m.) on TLC. In terms of content, the finale of the five-part documentary is about the preparation for the European Championships in England and the events during the tournament.