MSeveral familiar faces, who did a good job of advertising themselves in the summer, will not be able to present themselves to the German fans, who are expected in droves, at the first and only international match to be played in their home country after the European Championship.
National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is forced to improvise before the re-run of the European Championship semifinals against France. From the group of her original nominees, she was the last to remove Giulia Gwinn for the test game this Friday in Dresden (8:30 p.m. on ARD); the Munich winger suffered a knee injury in training.
Her club colleague Lina Magull had previously had to withdraw due to a corona infection, Sara Däbritz from Olympique Lyon due to a foot injury and Laura Freigang from Frankfurt due to shoulder problems. Goalkeeper Almuth Schult, who joined Angel FC in California in August, was left out by Voss-Tecklenburg, citing the strains of travel she was spared.
“Keep inspiring people”
Regardless of the prominent failures, Alexandra Popp left no doubt about her ambitions when she met the “Equipe Tricolore” again, who had been beaten 2-1 on July 27th. For the woman from Wolfsburg, who scored both goals in Milton Keynes and thus fueled the dream of the title, which only burst in extra time in the final against England, the prestigious duel is a good opportunity, “this hype, people took it with them to be able to continue”.
24,500 tickets were sold in advance for the Rudolf Harbig Stadium. “It’s up to us to keep inspiring people,” added Wolfsburg central defender Katrin Hendrich. In the Bundesliga, 23,200 spectators set a record at the start of the season between Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern; since then, a total of 47,238 fans have attended the twelve games on the first two match days – more than in the entire first half of the previous season.
Popp senses from many contemporaries interested in football, “a gratitude that we have given them a nice summer”. Today it is hardly possible for her to walk incognito through a pedestrian zone, “you are simply recognized,” said the 31-year-old. She considers the resulting sporting expectations to be appropriate.
“The pressure is not new, we have to keep delivering,” said Popp, who described both the encounter with the French and the North American tour that followed in November with the two matches against world champions USA as a “big plus”: “We want each other Compete with the best and can react to things that don’t yet fit,” said Popp. At the World Cup, which takes place next July, “we want to play as well as possible again” and ideally “be there until the end”.
After her arrival in Dresden, the 121-time national player left it open whether she would be among the elite of Voss-Tecklenburg again at the tournament. First of all, it remains to be seen who the national coach will nominate, said Popp, knowing full well that she – especially in top condition after surviving a knee injury – should be seeded.
But she consciously added that she was currently having “extremely much fun” with the DFB selection, but had to see how her “gut feeling developed in the coming months”. First, the World Cup groups will be drawn on October 22nd. After that it is at least clear whether the Germans will set up their base camp for the next title mission in Australia or New Zealand.
