After missing out on reaching the final, the DFB women’s team will face the world champions from Spain for bronze. This is their third top-class opponent within seven days.
National coach Horst Hrubesch believes that the decisive factor in the match for third place against Spain at the Olympics is the team’s physical condition after three weeks of tournaments. “At the moment we are all under the same strain. It will depend on who is still physically fresh,” said the 73-year-old in Lyon. The German women’s soccer team will play against the world champions for bronze on Friday (3 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport).
His team recently showed what it was capable of in the quarter-finals against Canada and in the semi-finals against the USA (0:1 after extra time). “We will try to bring that to the last game as well. Then we will see how the Spanish women deal with us,” said Hrubesch.
While the DFB women’s team failed in the preliminary round of the World Cup in Australia last year, Spain won the title for the first time. At the Olympics, the team led by world footballer Aitana Bonmatí missed the final on Saturday in Paris after losing 2:4 to Brazil.
Return of centre-forward Schüller unlikely
It is unclear whether DFB captain Alexandra Popp will be able to return to the German team against Spain. The 2016 Olympic champion was absent against the USA due to an infection. “Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes two, three days,” said Hrubesch, and with a view to Lea Schüller, the tournament’s three-time goal scorer, who had a knee injury, he said: “I’m more concerned about her patellar tendonitis than Poppi’s infection.”
Source: Stern
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