DFB team before the Women’s World Cup: No advertising from Eintracht players

On the grounds of the Bieberer Berg, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg didn’t have much to smile about when she was the national coach. That was the case in June 2021 in the dull 0-0 draw against Chile, and it was similar in June 2023. The 2-1 friendly win against Vietnam on Saturday evening was a mostly joyless event – if you look at it sporty as the first test of form before the upcoming women’s football World Cup (July 20th to August 20th) realized. In any case, the atmosphere in the Offenbach stadium, which was well filled with 13,600 spectators, was far better than the level on the pitch, also due to the numerous Vietnamese fan colonies.

Even the stately Frankfurt block in the German team could not lift that. The national coach had used all available Eintracht field players in the Hessian home game with Laura Freigang, Nicole Anyomi, Sara Doorsoun, Sjoeke Nüsken (will be in the service of Chelsea FC from July 1st) and substitute Sophia Kleinherne.

Only reserve goalkeeper Stina Johannes and the nominated Carlotta Wamser, who was absent due to muscular problems, had to watch. No Eintracht player was able to come to the fore before the squad was reduced from 28 players to the World Cup squad of 23 chosen on July 8th.

Intuition and dynamism of Freigang

Laura Freigang, for example, shouldn’t be sure of her place yet. At Eintracht, the attacker is a reliable supplier of goals and assists and one of the faces of the club, with the national team the 25-year-old has to fight for her place and rank in the structure. You could tell that she wanted to express her qualities against the World Cup participant Vietnam.

But in a team that seemed thrown together from the second German guard, she only managed that once in 90 minutes of action. When Freigang used their instincts and dynamism in the 55th minute, they made room in the otherwise extremely tight Vietnamese defense network, but their good finish rushed just a few centimeters past the goal.

The result in the penultimate test match before departure for Oceania was “not as hoped. The goal we conceded annoyed us a lot, so we have to take a good look at ourselves,” said Freigang. The Frankfurt striker also emphasized that after only three joint training sessions at the beginning of the tournament preparation, not everything could work out.

The inaccuracies led to an enormous number of bad passes – Kleinherne made the worst just seconds after being substituted on. The Eintracht central defender, who plays on the outside of the back four in the DFB team, almost gave the Vietnamese a 1-1 equalizer with a failed back pass to their own goalkeeper.

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The Frankfurt central defenders Doorsoun (45 minutes) and Nüsken (90 minutes) were also not really able to distinguish themselves. In addition to confident actions, the sometimes unsorted German back line gave the big outsider some good scoring chances. Anyomi could at least hint at her dynamism and ball possession skills.

The offensive player skilfully prepared the early German opening goal (2nd minute) and at least offered a good pass in the meager attacking game. “Everyone has to play more courageously,” said the 23-year-old after a day’s work during which the national coach’s face often darkened.