Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director for national teams at the German Football Association, has mixed feelings about the DFB women’s World Cup group final against South Korea after the setback against Colombia, but wants to remain optimistic. “Now we have our backs to the wall, but we’re staying true to ourselves and we won’t leave any doubt that we’ll win the game against South Korea,” Chatzialexiou told ARD Morgenmagazin.
The last World Cup preliminary round game on Thursday in Brisbane (12:00 p.m. CEST in the FAZ live ticker for the women’s World Cup and on ZDF) will now be a “head thing”. He has “experienced a lot of tournaments and knows which constellations come together in the head. In the end, it’s important that we build on our strengths and go into this game with confidence, trust each other,” said Chatzialexiou.
However, he warned of a “hammer game. The South Koreans will play for their honor, they certainly don’t want to go home with zero points. We have to stand up to that,” demanded the DFB official: “But I am very, very confident that the team will survive it mentally and come out with a positive result.”
Sara Doorsoun is out against South Korea
The DFB women came under pressure after the 2-1 draw against Colombia. “It was indeed an unnecessary defeat. After the 1-1 draw, we lacked the cleverness to get the game over the stage,” said Chatzialexiou: “Then we would have a completely different starting point today and would be talking about nicer things, namely winning the group.”
Meanwhile, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg will be able to fall back on defender Marina Hegering and Sydney Lohmann in the group final against South Korea. The duo was “completely operational, they were also completely normal in player replacement training in the morning,” reported co-trainer Britta Carlson this Monday. Hegering has not yet played a World Cup game in Australia after a bruised heel, Lohmann injured his adductors in the final training session before the start against Morocco (6-0). “They could have been used now, but it would have been a last resort,” Carlson clarified.
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The central defender Sara Doorsoun, who was injured against Colombia and was replaced, is still pending diagnostics, it is “probably a muscular injury, we’re still waiting for the MRI,” explained the assistant coach. She ruled out a mission against South Korea. The situation with left-back Felicitas Rauch after a knee sprain is still unclear.
