It’s unusual when Herbert Grönemeyer’s “Bochum” isn’t played before a football game in the Ruhr Stadium. That’s how it usually is at home games for the local VfL. However, this song wouldn’t have made any sense before the German soccer players’ Nations League game against Iceland on Tuesday evening. They could have played “In a taxi to Paris,” because the Nations League acts as an Olympic qualification, or “Get up when you’re down,” because the German women have been in a difficult situation since their elimination in the preliminary round of the World Cup situation.
The stadium management then played “Tonight’s gonna be a good night,” and it actually turned out to be a good evening. Germany defeated Iceland confidently and safely 4-0 (2-0) with four goals from the three Bayern players Klara Bühl (19th/78th), Giulia Gwinn (35th, penalty kick) and Lea Schüller (68th). “Today the knot was broken,” said Gwinn after the final whistle on ZDF, “you felt life in the team again – we want to build on this performance.”
However, the fact that the German soccer players are moving closer to the Olympic host city Paris has so far only been true geographically. Last Friday they lost 2-0 against Denmark in Viborg, now they won in the Ruhr area city of Bochum and the next qualifying game as part of the Nations League is on October 27th against Wales in Sinsheim. From there in Kraichgau it’s actually only 500 kilometers to Paris, but because the Olympics are only in ten months and because the Nations League also takes footballers to Iceland and Wales, Paris is a long way away – for now.
The team started against Iceland with three new starting players: Jule Brand at the front right, Lena Lattwein in the midfield and Gwinn at the back right. For the latter, who has recovered after a long injury, it was the first starting eleven appearance in the national team since the lost European Championship final on July 31, 2022 in London. Contrary to general media forecasts, the German women played without any noticeable rucksacks, but still with a certain strain after a disappointing World Cup, a recent somewhat mysterious illness of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and the 0-2 defeat in Denmark.
National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is still missing from the DFB women
They tried energetically from the start to shed any baggage, and indeed: there seemed to be more anger than strength in the shot that Bühl fired into the Icelandic net from 18 meters in the 19th minute after an impressive solo effort. With exuberant cheers, the team freed themselves from possible frustration, without which it was noticeably easier to embarrass the coolly defending Icelanders. After a foul on Lattwein, there was a penalty – and Gwinn converted it in the 35th minute to make it 2-0.
This meant that the matter was decided early on in a stadium that was officially sold out with 15,000 spectators because the standing room east stand remained closed that evening. Playing towards this empty concrete stand, they initially lacked finishing precision in the second half before substitute Schüller made it 3-0 with a header from Bühl’s cross in the 68th minute. Bühl then took over the final 4-0 herself. She was player of the game with three scorer points and was relieved afterwards: “It was incredibly fun to play in front of this great backdrop, the win was extremely important and we are simply unbelievable happy about it.”
