After lunch, Melanie Leupolz ran out between two large sliding doors with a gold emblem of the German Football Association (DFB) stuck to the glass. The logo was briefly divided into two, then reunited. In front of her, the national player pushed her son in the stroller, who she will have with her during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and who was now curiously looking at the surroundings. The door of the Mercure Kooindah Waters opened and closed more often, fellow players from Leupolz ran down the driveway over a small red carpet with the greeting message “WELCOME #IMTEAM”, above them on the canopy the inscription “WE BLEIBEN #HUNGRIGER”. They should feel as at home as possible here and for as long as possible.
Nobody waited to get a selfie or an autograph. The only people who moved around the site in Wyong, almost 100 kilometers north of Sydney, without a DFB tracksuit were a few golfers. The Kooindah Waters Golf Club borders on the four-star hotel of the German team. A public course and, as some reviews say, extremely challenging with its water hazards and sand bunkers. So the focus of the golfers was on the choice of club and on stowing the bags safely on their carts, less on the celebrity visit.
At the women’s soccer World Cup this summer, which in Australia is a winter with cool and dark evenings, a similar team spirit should develop as last year at the European Championships in England. At that time, too, the Germans had chosen permanent accommodation as a place of retreat – and reached the final. So why change something about the base camp principle when we have had such good experiences with it? Especially since the squad has hardly changed.
In this case, however, the quiet also means seclusion. “We’re a bit off the mark here,” said Lina Magull. “Everything is a bit older here. Well, it’s not the most modern hotel, but everything still fits.” In terms of seclusion, the choice of quarters is reminiscent of that of the DFB men in al-Ruwais at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. But it would be fine with women if only this one resemblance remained. Or if the Kooindah Waters, analogous to Campo Bahia, the nucleus of the men’s World Cup victory in Brazil in 2014, would now become a kind of Campo Wyong.
The footballers should rebuild a strong connection that inspires them
Lena Oberdorf already gave an indication of this. Upon arrival, she felt “a bit like being in the jungle,” said the 21-year-old. The area around the hotel is not so tropically forested, but there are exotic birdsong and lots of mangrove and eucalyptus trees. All the green increased the fear of unwanted guests for some players. “I first had to look in the corners of the room, pushed the curtains aside, including the duvet, and checked everything under the bed,” said goalkeeper Merle Frohms. Before the departure, Captain Alexandra Popp – a trained animal keeper – gave a small lecture about the Australian wildlife and not only talked about cute koalas. Which didn’t exactly help to calm those players who had already addressed their fear of spiders or snakes.
Open detailed view
First units in the World Cup country: national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and Alexandra Popp (right) during the public training session on Sunday.
(Photo: Dean Lewins/dpa)
In any case, the hotel is idyllically situated in the town of 4,500 inhabitants: it goes past a racecourse and small farms, then through a residential area. Until the Kooindah Boulevard (side street Championship Drive!) – like a moat over water – opens into a large driveway. Pools, tennis courts, a sauna, the fitness studio and a BBQ area are available to the team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. Exclusive. At the European Championships, only part of what was then the hotel in West London was reserved for the national team. Now the entire complex has been blocked for the 70-strong DFB entourage. The players share two-storey apartments with a kitchen, dining and living area. Everyone sleeps in a single room with a poster of themselves on the door, and black, red and gold flags are waving on the balconies.
The leisure concept of 2022 was retained, as in England, the team packed a teqball and table tennis table and set up a “Players Lounge” and a fitness tent. “We are well taken care of, so we were able to settle in very quickly,” said Frohms. With the long run-up between arrival on July 13 and the start of the tournament against Morocco on July 24, there should be no cabin fever. Felicitas Rauch “recognized this base camp character” and that everything was “designed much more integratively” than is usual in hotels. “It’s made easy for you to get into an exchange. I think it’s also important that you spend a lot of time together off the pitch.”
One thing is clear: the footballers should rebuild a strong connection – one that inspires them. Warming up on the beach, a day off for a trip to Sydney: Voss-Tecklenburg and her coaching team are trying to find the balance between being relaxed and the toughness that is certainly necessary in training, especially given the bumpy performances this year. At the moment, the stated goal of winning the title seems even more ambitious than it already is in view of the strong competition.
Where the Germans train is obvious: only here is the grass green
After Germany were drawn into Group H (with Morocco, Colombia and South Korea) at the obligatory Fifa ceremony in Auckland in November, Voss-Tecklenburg did not travel directly from New Zealand, but made a stopover in Australia. Her team will play all World Cup games here: no matter how far they get, they never have to go to New Zealand. Voss-Tecklenburg wanted to get an idea of possible quarters – a matter for the boss. From the official tournament hotels, the Germans had to give the world association three wishes by the end of November; in the end they won the contract for their favourite.
The decision to live in isolation has one disadvantage: more bus trips, flights, relocation. The day before each game, Fifa regulations provide for overnight stays in a hotel at the venue, in the case of the Germans in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in the group phase, and then possibly also in Adelaide. And in between always back to Wyong. But the priority was clearly to minimize the loss of time in everyday life. “We asked the players what is important to them. The first answer is always: a short walk to the training ground,” said Voss-Tecklenburg.
The training ground at the Central Coast Regional Sporting & Recreation Complex is only four miles from the hotel. On Sunday, day four since their arrival, the DFB women put in a public session and were greeted with didgeridoo sounds, the smoke from burnt eucalyptus branches was supposed to cleanse their spirit. Long before the players arrived, girls from local football clubs were waiting with their parents. It wasn’t difficult to tell which of the nine places the Germans were training in, you can see it from afar. Her area is doubly protected: on the sidelines, as if it were her garden, by a white fence. And all around from a black privacy screen and security guards. And only here is the grass really green.
