Women’s European Championship: This is how German opportunities are against Spain

Everything seems to be imaginable after this game: Against France, the German national women’s team not only digested the clap against Sweden, but also fought and finally fought against a strong opponent after the deficit. The combative appearance in the quarterfinals encourages the upcoming task.

But it has it all. In the semi-finals of the women’s European Championship, the team of national coach Christian Wück meets Spain (9 p.m.). Against the world champions, Germany is a clear outsider, a progress would be a surprise. But maybe this is exactly the chance for the German team.

Spain is considered the over-team in women’s football par excellence-just as the Spaniards were among the men 15 years ago, at the best Tiki-Taka times. The women do justice to this call at the tournament in Switzerland: through their group they marched with three wins and 14 goals, i.e. an average of almost five goals per game.

In the quarter -finals against the hosts from Switzerland, there was “only” a 2-0. The victory could have been significantly higher, Spain missed two penalty. A few representative numbers from the game: 72 percent possession, 88 percent successful passports, 23: 4 scores. Playful dominance is in the DNA of Spanish football.

Some of the best players in the world run for Spain. For example, Alexia Putellas from FC Barcelona, who has already won every title nationally and internationally-except the EM Cup. Next to her in midfield, Aitana Bonmatí (also from FC Barcelona) acts the player, who is currently the measure of all things in women’s football. Bonmatí has been named world footballer in the past two years, Putellas in the two years before.

The German team is currently quite a bit away from the world class. In the preliminary round, the DFB team came to two lackluster victories and showed a disappointing performance in the 1: 4 against Sweden. The quarter-finals against France has triggered a mini-euphoria. But that should not hide the fact that the French women were the clearly better team and that Germany hardly took place on the offensive.

In addition, national coach Wück plagues personnel problems. Captain Giulia Gwinn and Sarai Linder injured themselves during the tournament, Sjoeke Nüsken and Katrin Hendrichmissing. The Germans also put the 120 minutes plus penalty shootout in the bones. This can be a disadvantage, especially against the ball -proof Spaniards.

“I think we will run a lot. We will have to suffer a lot because we don’t have a ball,” says Wück. Nevertheless, he announces a “hot dance”. His team wants to convince with team spirit, combat strength and mentality. Wück explains that the energy performance against France had “mentally a huge push”: “The girls absolutely wanted to prove what they were made of and that we can insert such neck strokes and come back there.”

The DFB team feels comfortable in the outsider role. The statistics also give hope: Germany has never lost in eight direct duels against Spain. If the series lasts, there will be a new edition of the European Championship final from 2022 on Sunday.