Before the last group match against South Korea on Thursday (08/03/2023), Germany has the qualification for the knockout round of the top 16 teams at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in its own hands. A new formation could help to achieve success.
At the press conference after arriving in Brisbane, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg put on her poker face as usual. As usual, she said about the game system and the staff for the encounter with South Korea on Thursday (12 p.m. CEST, in the live ticker on sportschau.de): not much.
After all, the national coach let on how relieved she is that central defender and head of defense Marina Hegering is finally fully resilient again after a week-long break due to a bruised heel. “Of course that’s an added value for every team. So we’re happy that Marina is now absolutely fit to play.”
With Sara Doorsoun absent through injury, it is likely that the 33-year-old will start alongside Kathrin Hendrich in the center of defense against South Korea.
Do Popp and Schüller storm from the start?
Voss-Tecklenburg also left open whether she would change her game system from the usual 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 with a double lead, which could then form Alexandra Popp and Lea Schüller. “As always, we thought about which things we could adjust,” said the national coach. One sees whether the opponent reveals something “that we can exploit”.
Co-trainer Britta Carlson said at the beginning of the week that a line-up with two leaders was possible. So the team can “get more into the box and have more presence on the offensive”.
How does the DFB team deal with the pressure?
Against the Asians it can be more Morocco and less Colombia in the German game. After the 6:0 at the start, the team of national coach Voss-Tecklenburg had neglected their offensive game against the South Americans (1:2).
The players are under pressure before the game against South Korea, but the mood in the past few days has been “predominantly good”, according to Voss-Tecklenburg. “We win together, we lose together and we take the next steps together.”
Goalkeeper Merle Frohms spoke of a mix of tension and anticipation when leaving for Brisbane. “The pressure is always a bit to get your performance. If you go into the game too loosely, it won’t work either,” Lena Oberdorf also saw a positive aspect of the situation. And left-back Chantal Hagel emphasized: “We want to convert the pressure into energy so that we can start our game well.”
Not with doubts, but with confidence against South Korea
The Colombia game was already over after the session on Monday morning (07/31/2023). “We didn’t sugarcoat anything in the analysis,” emphasized assistant coach Carlson. “The players are very self-critical, they even want a clear message.” Defender Hendrich also thought it was good that it wasn’t just “beaten up”: “We don’t want to have doubts, we want to go into the last game with confidence.”
We said right after the Colombia game that South Korea would have to suffer as a result.
National player Lina Magull
Lina Magull reported that immediately after the bitter defeat, a “first and foremost mentality” set in. “Now South Korea has to suffer.” Nothing has changed in the big goal. “We’re hoping for the next title for Germany soon,” said Melanie Leupolz and Magull explained: “I have a very good feeling that we’ll be going full throttle on Thursday. We want to show that we can do better.”
Just no parallel to the men
Meanwhile, World Cup history has a curious parallel. The men were in the same situation at the 2018 World Cup as the women are now. Germany also had three points before the third group game, then lost to South Korea and was eliminated after the preliminary round for the first time at a World Cup.
But it shouldn’t come to that for women. Especially since the starting position is better: In order to prevent early elimination, Germany must not do worse than Morocco in the parallel game. And if Morocco should lose against the current league leaders Colombia, the DFB women could even afford a (not too big) defeat against South Korea. Germany will only win the group if they win their own game and Colombia lose to Morocco.
South Korea’s coach is an old friend
On paper, the Asians started as the second strongest nation in the group. However, a number of other games have already revealed that the significance of the FIFA world rankings is very limited. And so, before the duel with Germany, it’s already clear that the Korean team, which former Bundesliga coach Colin Bell is in charge of, will have to travel home after the preliminary round.
“We’re expecting strong Asian players, who are always very technically adept. And we know how disciplined they are,” warned Leupolz anyway, adding: “We’re expecting a relatively difficult game, but our full focus is on the three points.”
Hagel, who made her World Cup debut against Colombia and will probably stand in for the injured Felicitas Rauch at left-back against South Korea, was optimistic: “We know our strengths and we know what we need to do better. We’ll do it on the pitch bring, play forward with the necessary courage and be consistent in front of goal.”
Facts about the game
– Play against each other: none yet
– FIFA World Ranking: Germany 2nd place / South Korea 17th place
– Best World Cup placement: Germany – World Champion 2003 and 2007 / South Korea – Round of 16 2015
– Fun fact: South Korea lost all three group games in 2003 and 2019. The 2-1 win against Spain in the preliminary round in 2015 was the only victory at a World Cup for the Asian women, whose record with one draw and ten defeats is otherwise very modest.
