Olympic Games: DFB women hope for bronze and party in Paris

At the end of a long and exhausting Tour de France, Germany’s footballers are hoping for a bronze medal – and a party finale in Paris at the heart of the Olympic Games. “We want to get the best out of it and then go to the closing ceremony in Paris happy and just enjoy it,” said striker Klara Bühl before the once again challenging match for third place against the world champions from Spain on Friday (3 p.m./ZDF and Eurosport) in Lyon.

Medal – or nothing tangible to show?

After the bitter 0:1 defeat against the USA, the DFB women are walking a fine line in the small final: the medal goal is within reach one year after the World Cup debacle in Australia and after a visible upward trend at the Summer Games. On the other hand, the national team would have nothing tangible to show for a defeat in the farewell match of Horst Hrubesch, who will be replaced as national coach by Christian Wück after the Olympics.

“We are all ready and definitely don’t want to go home empty-handed,” said Giulia Gwinn, who wore Alexandra Popp’s captain’s armband in the semi-final. It is uncertain whether the Wolfsburg player will return against Spain. The 2016 Olympic champion, who had a cold, was in bed in a hotel during the USA match. “Sometimes it takes a day, sometimes two or three days,” said Hrubesch, and explained with a view to Lea Schüller, the three-time tournament goal scorer who had a knee injury: “I’m more concerned about her patellar tendonitis than Poppi’s infection.”

Hrubesch: “Spanish women have to get along with us”

After three weeks of tournaments with games every three days, Hrubesch now sees physical fitness as the most important factor. “At the moment we are all under the same strain. It will depend on who is still physically fresh,” says the 73-year-old. His team has recently shown what it is capable of: “We will try to bring that to the last game too. Then we will see how the Spanish women cope with us.”

The team around world footballer Aitana Bonmatí missed the final after losing 2:4 to Brazil. The footballers reacted to their semi-final defeat with tears, but also defiance, with Sophia Smith’s goal in extra time. “We did really well for long stretches,” said Gwinn.

DFB hopes for exclamation mark

DFB sports director Nia Künzer also praised the passionate and tactically clever performance: “We were close to being able to play for gold. I think we put in an outstanding performance. If we take the chance on Friday, it will really be an exclamation mark.”

After the nerve-wracking game, Hrubesch stood in the interview zone of the Groupama Stadium, looking pretty exhausted, but then, with the routine of his long football life, quickly looked ahead: “Today we put our heads down, tomorrow we get up again.”

Eight years after the gold triumph in Rio, it would be the fourth bronze medal for the German women’s soccer team at the Summer Games. “Before, nobody would have believed that we would even be here. We still have a chance of bronze, so a second match point,” said Hrubesch. “We will try to use it. I also told the girls: I can only congratulate them on the way they played.”

In 2016 in Rio, Hrubesch and the German men lost the Olympic final against Brazil on penalties. In recent months, he has raved about the atmosphere in the Olympic Village to his players so often that they just turn away laughing. The former header monster now said mischievously: “Maybe we’ll get a chance at a day ticket. Who knows. If we go to the closing ceremony, we’ll pass the village. Maybe we’ll get in after all.”