It almost seemed a bit as if this hit made her a little uncomfortable. Klara Bühl hardly cheered, her teammates simply took over. 67 minutes were over when Lea Schüller actually wanted to add herself to the top scorers list. But her shot landed on the left post – from where the ball bounced, straight towards Bühl, who couldn’t help but put her foot down. It was her third goal in the international match against Switzerland, which the 21-year-old decisively shaped with two more goals and an assist and which ended 7-0 (2-0).
In the only test before the European Championships in England, which began on July 6, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg no longer experimented, but wanted to see the implementation of the content developed over the past few weeks – and was satisfied. “Overall, we showed a lot of what was indicated in training,” she said. “What currently distinguishes the team is the freshness we have.” Sometimes there was a lack of precision. But dynamism, joy in playing, creativity, self-confidence – all the elements demanded by the national coach – were there, albeit against opponents who seemed overwhelmed. This mix provided a good feeling two weeks before the opening game against Denmark. “It’s super good, a game like this gives us self-confidence and shows us we’re on the right track,” said Bühl on ZDF.
In front of almost 6000 spectators in Erfurt, the DFB women achieved a lot, the Swiss women little. “Germany were clearly better and they punished us for every mistake,” said Swiss coach Nils Nielsen. Bühl and Lina Magull, who both play for FC Bayern Munich, formed the successful duo in the first half. In the 6th minute, Magull passed the ball across from the right to Bühl, who shot at goalkeeper Gaëlle Thalmann’s legs, but the ball landed behind the line to make it 1-0. While the Swiss barely approached the German penalty area, let alone created any chances, the Germans had various opportunities – but they only knew how to use the next one in the 41st minute. This time Bühl provided assists for Magull: pass from the left into the penalty area, Magull slid energetically and with the decisive lead over Eseosa Aigbogun to make it 2-0 from close range.
The starting formation chosen by Voss-Tecklenburg worked and should mostly correspond to the ideal team for the start of the European Championship. The national coach tested a bit: In the 58th minute, Lena Lattwein came on for Däbritz, Linda Dallmann for Magull and Nicole Anyomi for Giulia Gwinn as right-back. And when everything went so smoothly with the changed line-up and the Swiss continued to find it extremely difficult to find their way into the game, Bühl tried it in the 61st minute from a distance: she flicked the ball from the left edge of the penalty area over the Post to 3-0 in the net.
Voss-Tecklenburg gave other players the opportunity to warm up. Jule Brand came in for Bühl, Sydney Lohmann (73rd minute) came in for Lena Oberdorf, and Alexandra Popp, who recently suffered from Corona, came on for Schüller in the 78th minute. And the changes should pay off and give more self-confidence: Dallmann made it 5-0 (81st), Brand made it 6-0 (89th), Lohmann made it 7-0 (90th + 5). “The value of that remains to be seen,” said Voss-Tecklenburg. “But there was a lot of energy in it and that’s exactly what we want to take with us.”
