The German Women’s National Team are set to play their first group stage game today against Ivory Coast. Get to know one of the tournament favorites a little better. If you simply want a short assessment, scroll down for the “tl;dr Section”
Four years ago, Germany entered the 2011 Women’s World Cup as THE team to win it. They were current title holders, #2 in the world rankings, had spent several months in residency to prepare for the tournament and they were the host nation – playing with the support of (largely) sell out crowds behind them. It all ended in the 108th minute of the quarter final, when Karina Maruyama scored on a surprised Nadine Angerer and lifted Japan to the semi final.
Germany had crumbled under the pressure and media scrutiny. This time around, the team is #1 in the rankings, in generally good form and certainly on everybody’s list. They are also missing several key players, the most notable of which is of course Nadine Keßler, 2014 FIFA Player of the Year. But defender Luisa Wensing, too, is injured while midfielder Lira Alushi is pregnant. So much for the basic facts at least. But what about the players that actually made it to Canada?
Assistant coach Ulrike Ballweg recently told FOX that the current team was the best Germany had produced in the last 20 years, mainly referring to their impressive depth. This is something head coach Silvia Neid and her partner Ballweg have worked for very hard – and sometimes been forced to work for, due to injuries to key players. It is Neid’s stated coaching philosophy that any player should be able to step onto the field and find her place without disrupting the quality or the flow of play.
In a recent interview Neid wondered whether she had been able to field the same starting xi twice in a row over the last year and she settled on “no” as the answer. While that is certainly somewhat of an overstatement, it is true that injuries and experiments have lead to quite a lot of rotation all across the field for Germany. The results, nevertheless, were mostly positive.
The most obvious tinkering happened in defensive midfield where Neid has been trying to implement Dzsenifer Marozsan, a natural attacking midfielder. Even before Nadine Keßler’s injury, Maroszan played there, both in combination with Goeßling and Keßler – at the 2014 Algarve Cup for example. Other players that have been tested in various pairings at the position are Melanie Leupolz and Melanie Behringer (who play in similar position together for their club, Bayern München) and Sara Däbritz. The latter is still a relative newcomer to the team, despite being part of the 2013 Euro squad already.
It is hard to guess which pairing worked the best as all contestants have solid and sometimes even impressive performances in the position. The most important question is probably whether the chosen tournament pairing will have established and fine tuned their rhythm enough to hold up against tough opposition such as France, the United States or Sweden for example.
What is simply called “chemistry” and could also be described as, perhaps, “the collective routine and experience necessary to anticipate not just your opponents but also your partner’s actions and adjust accordingly,” may be among Germany’s biggest problems, especially on the defensive side of things.
Saskia Bartusiak, who partnered with Annike Krahn during the 2013 European Championship, has been out for over 10months with a complex knee injury. She is yet to play a full match since her return, so the likely pairing at center back is limited to past experience and around 70min of playing time in Germany’s last pre World Cup friendly vs Switzerland. Speed already a concern for the two, Bartusiak’s state of fitness and lack of playing time might add to this. Add to this the possible fine tuning issues at defensive midfield, and it becomes unlikely that Germany will repeat their 2013 defensive success when they only conceded a single goal (a weird deflected shot in the game against Norway) all tournament.
In March, much to everybody’s surprise, Germany lead Sweden 2-0 after only a few minutes and ended up losing the game 4-2 – the first time in years that they had conceded so many goals in a single match. In the aftermath, Neid analyzed that the team had lost it’s compactness too easily and as a result become stretched, giving Sweden too much room to combine and pass, while always being a step behind defensively.
Several players, including Captain Nadine Angerer, suggested that the relative youth of the team may play a part in the lack of consistency. Annike Krahn added that while the team had the on paper quality to come back after conceding the equalizer to Sweden (or even the go ahead goal), they were not able to put that quality on the pitch that day, citing nerves as one of the reasons.
In fact, Germany does have one of the youngest teams among the teams considered contenders for the title. Their average age is around 25. France come in around 26, while Sweden, Japan, Canada and England are above 27 on average. The US has the oldest and most experienced team with more than 28 years on average. 13 of the 23 German players were born in the 1990s, France and Sweden have 9, while the United States have only 3.
On the bright side for Germany, many of their youngsters are already very experienced. Dzsenifer Marozsan may be only 23, but the attacking midfielder already has U20 World Cup Gold to her name as well as a European Title with the senior team. Her most recent accomplishment is the 2015 UEFA Women’s Champion’s League title. Even some of the players with the lowest amount of caps, such as Leonie Maier and Sarah Däbritz, were already part of the 2013 Euro squad, whereas forwards Pauline Bremer and Lena Petermann won the U20s last year in Canada.
Experiences like these are important because it means the players are already used to the pressure of a tournament. Forward Celia Sasic thinks it helps the team that many players went through the highs and lows of the 2013 Euros together, which was not an easy tournament for Germany who competed with a very young, inexperienced team. She says “We are better now than we were two years ago.”
How good they can be, the team certainly proved in their two most recent friendlies. They took apart a rather tired Brazil 4-0 in April, after already beating a considerably less tired version of the team 3-1 a month earlier at the Algarve. And while they initially struggled against a defensively well organized and high pressing Switzerland, they found their sharpness and grit in the second half and ended up winning 3-1. Substitutions played a huge part in the success, as a lively Dzsenifer Marozsan brought new energy in the second half.
If defense is their question mark, then offense is Germany’s exclamation point. The attacking half of the pitch features names such a Celia Sasic (leading scorer in both Frauen Bundesliga and the UEFA Women’s Champion’s League this season) and Anja Mittag (2014 Damallsvenskan leading scorer and MVP). There is also Alexandra Popp, a scoring threat for VfL Wolfsburg and – like Sasic – averaging a goal every two games for the national team. Depending on where Neid decides to play her, Marozsan can be a part of that front line as well, but remains a scoring threat even from further back, as she is an excellent long distance shot. The attack is completed by young talents such as Lena Lotzen as well as U20 World Cup Champions Pauline Bremer and Lena Petermann.
More important than the number of talented players that crowd the offensive half of the pitch for Germany, is their ability to function together. At the Algarve, even new additions like Petermann seemed to fit into the line up almost seamlessly. When in form, the front line is deadly, as Brazil and England recently had to learn. And they have several matches now to perfect their rhythm in closer spaces, as they will likely face more defensive minded teams in Ivory Coast and Thailand.
Enough already – Can they win the thing? The tl;dr section:
Despite some inconsistent performances and two significant losses (to France last October and the loss to Sweden at the Algarve cited above), Germany has got what it takes. On a good day, when they work together as a team, they appear almost unstoppable. An experienced coach, Neid prepares her team well for opponents’ strengths and weaknesses and puts a focus on compactness and team defense. The narrow field Germany seeks to achieve gives them numbers around the ball should they lose it, and appears to be one of the keys to their midfield control.
Since they have a relatively easy group stage (featuring two World Cup debutantes in Ivory Coast and Thailand), they have some time to find their rhythm and get into a groove for the knockout stages. They will need to do so quickly though, because if all goes as planned, they will face France in the quarter final and may meet the US in the semi final. If they want to make it past those hurdles, they will need a very good day and a well functioning team. But they have proven in 2013 that they are a tournament team, capable of winning against the odds. If they can keep that confidence and spirit, anything is possible.
But as Silvia Neid has pointed out time and again: It is a World Cup, anything is possible and a lot will depend on game day form. This is truer now than it ever was, because there have never been as many teams capable of winning as there are this year.
Bonus section: For a full roster, click here.
