Before today’s semi-final of the women’s EURO against France (9 p.m., ORF 1) in Milton Keynes, Germany holds many trump cards. The record champions, who were challenged to the full in Thursday’s 2-0 win against Austria, have a two-day longer break than Les Bleues, who struggled to a well-deserved 1-0 win over the Netherlands after extra time.
In addition to fitness, experience speaks for the DFB selection, which has conquered eight titles at European level. The French, who have yet to win a competitive match against Germany, have never been in a EURO final. In 2005 (3:0) and 2009 (5:1) there were clear DFB successes in the European Championship group phase, in 2011 a 4:2 jumped out in the World Cup preliminary round.
In the most recent competition, Germany won the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup after a 1-1 draw, 5-4 on penalties. “I’m convinced that France will have respect for us, so it will probably be a duel on an equal footing,” said German national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, whose team is yet to concede a goal at EURO 2022 in England. 4-0 against Denmark, 2-0 against Spain, 3-0 against Finland, 2-0 against Austria – the results speak for themselves and for goalkeeper Merle Frohms, who is brimming with optimism. “We have a world-class team that is capable of many things.” But that also applies to the French around the 1.87 meter tall defender Wendie Renard. At club level, none is as successful as the 32-year-old captain, who won 15 league and nine cup titles with Olympique Lyon. She also won the Champions League eight times.
“Wendie is an absolute leader, we have to defend her well,” says DFB midfielder Sara Däbritz, who will be Renard’s club-mate after moving from Paris Saint-Germain to Lyon. Yesterday England and Sweden met in the first semi-final. The match was still in progress as this issue went to press.
Source: Nachrichten
