New national coach Christian Wück does not yet want to appoint a permanent captain. Against England he is relying on an FC Bayern player. And in goal for Olympic heroine Berger.
Before his debut as national coach of the German footballers, Christian Wück leaves it open as to who will lead the team as captain beyond the next two test matches. Bayern defender Giulia Gwinn will be the captain of Wück’s first appearance against England at London’s Wembley Stadium on October 25th (8:30 p.m./ARD), the 51-year-old ex-professional revealed at a digital press conference. Three days later in the second test match against Australia (6.30 p.m./ZDF) in Duisburg, Alexandra Popp will put on the captain’s armband for the last time in her DFB farewell game.
“We will select the captains for the Nations League together with the team,” announced Wück. The Nations League continues for the DFB team in February. There will be no permanent captain for the other friendly games this year on November 29th in Zurich against Switzerland and on December 2nd in Bochum against Italy.
Berger is keeping her role for now
“I want to get an overview of the team structure in these four games, I want to see what the structures are like within the team,” explained Wück. The willingness to take on the captaincy must also come from the player. “There are a lot of players who maybe don’t want to be captain at all.” After the games against England and Australia, he could say “who is eligible and who is not.” Gwinn was recently considered the favorite.
In goal, Wück will continue to rely on Olympic heroine Ann-Katrin Berger, who made a significant contribution to the German team’s bronze win in France. The 34-year-old from US club NJ/NY Gotham FC is a “very experienced goalkeeper,” emphasized Wück. “We have a lot of young goalkeepers in Germany who don’t yet have the experience at international level.”
However, Berger will not play all four games by the end of the year, Wück added. Maria Luisa Grohs (23/FC Bayern) and Stina Johannes (24/Eintracht Frankfurt), who have now also been nominated for the 23-man squad, are also expected to play in the next four test matches and benefit from Berger’s experience in DFB training.
Source: Stern
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