The five Frankfurt women have been part of it for a while now. If the DFB announces the chosen ones before international matches or training courses, then Eintracht Frankfurt will provide an impressive delegation for the squad. The SGE quintet from goalkeeper Stina Johannes to the defenses Sara Doorsoun and Sophia Kleinherne to the attackers Nicole Anyomi and Laura Freigang is always there. This also recently applied to the unsuccessful World Cup overseas, and the four Frankfurt field players were nominated for the European Championships in England, which had been so successful the year before.
Proof that Eintracht has been able to reduce the gap to the top names in local women’s football, VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich. But being there is one thing, playing regularly in the DFB selection is another. None of the five have a regular place in the national team.
“My players have shown that they are there and ready when they are needed. I would be happy if one or the other got more playing time,” says SGE coach Niko Arnautis. Of course, the 43-year-old is the first advocate for his national players and wishes them a sense of success in the DFB circle too, so that the self-confidence they have gained also benefits their performance in the club.
Also internationally experienced
What is new this year is that the five national players were not only able to demonstrate their current good form in the Bundesliga (including their large differences in performance among their opponents), as was usual in previous years. But also in their first appearances in the Champions League, where they overcame, among others, Juventus Turin in the qualification and last week, despite the 3-1 defeat, they also had a predominantly strong performance in the group phase against the world team FC Barcelona.
The argument that the Frankfurt women in the club lack the experience of regular international showdowns at the highest level no longer counts in Arnautis’ eyes. “In recent years, the players from Wolfsburg and Munich have been a little ahead of us in terms of success and experience. But we have made big steps forward in the last two years,” said the Eintracht coach.
At the beginning of his term in office, interim national coach Horst Hrubesch did not really pursue a different approach to personnel than his predecessor Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. Their approach of relying on a large Wolfsburg block in the starting eleven and not moving away from this even during the unsuccessful World Cup tournament was met with criticism.
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It seems that Hrubesch does not want to approach the immediate goal of Olympic qualification with too much personnel castling. This Friday evening (8.30 p.m. on ZDF) a victory with at least two goals is needed in the Nations League game against Denmark in order to maintain realistic chances for Paris 2024.
Since Hrubesch has been demanding, among other things, more speed and assertiveness in the game since taking office, this could be a good chance for Nicole Anyomi. The 23-year-old plays at a high level almost throughout the entire 2023 calendar year, is difficult to defend with her dynamism and power and has also shown great improvement in her ability to finish on goal.
“Nici needs this feeling of trust and freedom for her game,” says Arnautis. Voss-Tecklenburg’s experiment of developing Anyomi (used in all three World Cup games) as a right-back is now off the table, much to the relief of the 21-time national player.
Great competition in attack
Laura Freigang always has somewhat worse cards in the DFB circle. Despite her strong record of twelve goals in 24 international matches (mostly against weaker opponents), the World Cup and European Championships were personally frustrating experiences for Freigang. The change to the national coaching position will have come in handy for her.
In the recent international match against Wales, Hrubesch nominated her for the starting eleven, but took her out again at halftime. The following applies to Freigang: The competition in attack is great with Alexandra Popp and Lena Schüller and, depending on the system, their preferred, somewhat withdrawn ten position in Frankfurt is either already occupied or not planned at all.
For coach Arnautis, goalkeeper Stina Johannes has “improved enormously in terms of her maturity, presence and personality”, but has yet to make any international appearances. As number three, that will probably not change any time soon.
Sara Doorsoun has worked her way into the inner circle of central defense candidates in the national team. The 32-year-old had a short stint under Hrubesch and a game lasting 90 minutes and could make her 50th international appearance against Denmark. “I don’t know if there has ever been a better Sara,” praises Arnautis.
“She leads our team from the back and can perform very freely and with a lot of self-confidence.” At Eintracht, Doorsoun plays in a strong central defender duo. The Barcelona game clearly showed how, together with Sophia Kleinherne, she was able to successfully prevent even the world’s best players from trying to score.
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“It was advertising on our own behalf. Despite being only 23 years old, Sophia has already experienced a lot and is becoming more and more confident,” says Arnautis. Surprisingly, Hrubesch initially did not nominate the Westphalian when she took office – but she then moved up to the squad. But Kleinherne hasn’t played a minute for Germany since June.
