A knee injury, of all things, has overshadowed the European Championships of the German footballers in Captain Giulia Gwinn. The team of national coach Christian Wück was not able to look forward to the 2-0 (0: 0) against tournament debuting Poland. It is doubtful whether the star player from FC Bayern Munich can still participate in the tournament in Switzerland. “It was a bitter victory for us,” said the head coach.
“We are in the cabin right after the circle and they all took them in their arms. Tomorrow is the MRI. The knee is affected. It prevented us from conceding the goal. We all keep our fingers crossed that it is not so bad,” added Wück in the ARD.
In front of 15,972 spectators in the St. Gallen arena – including 4,000 fans from Germany – the eight -time European champion had a hard time. A dream goal by Jule Brand (52nd minute) and a header from Lea Schüller (66th) then redeemed the battered DFB selection.
Gwinn is injured by Rettungstat
Gwinn had led the German national team on the lawn for the first time at a big tournament. Then the shock followed in the 36th minute: In a rescue operation against Ewa Pajor, her knee crashed into that of Poland’s top scorer.
Gwinn came back to the pitch briefly, but then limped from the lawn based on a supervisor. With a face of pain and tears, she had to be replaced – Gwinn has already had two cruciate ligament tears. After the second time, she also missed the 2023 World Cup in Australia due to the long regeneration. A timely diagnosis should result in a timely MRI examination, said a DFB spokeswoman.
“I think she is a very important player for us. You have already noticed a little kink with us. The most important thing is that it doesn’t look so bad for her,” said Brand, who solved some knots at the DFB team with her goal.
Wück: “There will be no excuses”
Immediately before the kick -off, Wück in the ARD emphasized with anticipation and optimism: “The conditions are absolutely great. There will be no excuses.” At his tournament premiere with the DFB women, the 52-year-old chose the same line-up as with the furious 4: 0 in Bremen against the Netherlands.
In the tens position, he again trusted Linda Dallmann from FC Bayern, which was recently strong. The experienced Sarai Linder from VfL Wolfsburg preferred the experienced Sarai Linder from VfL Wolfsburg before the twenty-year-old Munich woman Franziska Kett.
Poland Pajor from FC Barcelona appeared dangerously in the German penalty area after ten seconds, but her cross was started. The DFB women know the long-time Wolfsburg woman in the best possible way-the respect for the two-time Bundesliga goalkeeper was accordingly great, who mostly dealt with Rebecca Knaak.
DFB team starts nervous
The nervousness of the DFB women stretched through the entire first half: too many balls were unnecessarily lost to the deeply standing Polishes. Only a shot of wing flasher Brand After 24 minutes, goalkeeper Kinga Szemik had to steer around the post. The DFB women were lucky that the Polish women were just offside with two promising counterattacks.
According to Gwinn’s failure, the future Leverkusener Carlotta Wamser came as a right -back. Defense chief Janina Minge took over the rainbow bandage. After the change, the German women shook a lot and played braver, more liberated and much more powerful.
Schüller with impressive quota
A remarkable shot of fire from seventeen meters lowered the net for 1-0. A flank from Brand then headed Schüller in her typical way to 2-0 – it was already her 53rd goal in the 76th international. Before that, Sjoeke Nüsken could have already made the second goal with a header from a short distance.
Most likely without gwinn, the Wück team will continue on Tuesday (6 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Championship) in Basel against Denmark. Four days later there is a possible group summit in Zurich when it comes to Sweden. The World Cup thirds of 2019 and 2023 won their opening game 1-0 against Denmark.
