Back in the team: Carolin Simon is training with the German national team again. Whether she can also play in the World Cup will be decided on Friday.
Foto: imago / Beautiful Sports
At the media day of the German footballers in Herzogenaurach, Carolin Simon was sitting in the back left corner when national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg formulated an urgent request from the podium. The five internationals from FC Bayern shouldn’t be asked anything more about the severance dispute. Just don’t waste energy looking back, was her reasoning. But with the left-back from Munich, looking back is actually inevitable. That the 30-year-old would have become a serious candidate for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (July 20th to August 20th) with the start of the second training camp on Saturday was something she hadn’t expected at all.
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In the meantime she was away from the window for several years in the national team. As a result, she was not one of the heroes of the European Championship who received a lot of applause last summer after losing the final against England at the Römer in Frankfurt. The fact that Simon has been included in the extended group of World Cup candidates before the final squad is named after the friendly against Zambia in Fürth next Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. makes her proud. “I’ve always wanted that because I’ve always liked playing for the national team, but after such a long time you never know. The joy was all the greater. I really like being here.«
At the 2019 World Cup in France, Simon made four appearances, was in the starting eleven in the quarter-finals defeat by Sweden (1-2), but was substituted before the break. The accusation: too slow, too flawed, maybe too excited. When Voss-Tecklenburg then rearranged the national team, she was missing. For longer time. This phase, explains the native of Kassel, was not easy: »I generally had a difficult time, during which I also had a lot of mental problems. I’ve been in a downward spiral for a long time.«
She didn’t really notice it at first until she got to a point where she couldn’t do it without professional help. “I hired a psychologist far away from sport.” Of course, a lot of her life revolved around football, but she still felt that she needed “someone away from this sports bubble”. The work-up has helped, the balance is right again. And she can state: “The last year was one of my best in sport.”
She was used again in the DFB team during the trip to the USA last autumn. The 21-time national player sees her current appointment as “recognition and appreciation” of her achievements. The left-footed player was the best assist provider in the league with 13 assists at champions Bayern. »I feel absolutely fine, both physically and mentally, and am prepared for any task.«
As in previous tournaments, Birgit Prinz, a trained sports psychologist, has been on hand to provide psychological support for the DFB women since the start of preparation. “I really like Birgit,” says Simon. Having a contact person for mental problems is important these days: “There are always things in football that are not so easy to deal with.” She says she doesn’t feel any pressure now: “I want to stay with myself and my performance. Everything else will be decided by others.« Anyone who listens to her quickly realizes that the mature and opinionated personality could do the team chemistry in Australia good. No unimportant factor in the final selection process.
In terms of football, Simon could be accommodated by the fact that there are certain deficits in her position: After the absence of Giulia Gwinn, the DFB women lack full-backs of international class. So far, Sophia Kleinherne from Eintracht Frankfurt and Felicitas Rauch from VfL Wolfsburg on the left are planned, with Simon saying: »Felicitas has been doing well in the position for years. There’s really no reason to change.” That’s why Simon doesn’t want to formulate any claims at all: “It would be the wrong approach if I said: ‘I walk through this door and now I want to play again.’ I think I do I have to put myself last.« Her motto: »If you need me, I’ll be there.«
