The two-time European champion Inka Grings sees the German soccer players as favorites at the European Championships in England, but also has concerns. The 43-year-old described the personnel situation in national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s team as “somewhat complicated”.
In an interview published on the DFB website, she said: “Alex Popp hasn’t played for a long time, neither has Marina Hegering. Dzsenifer Marozsan will unfortunately not be able to be there after her cruciate ligament tear. The national coach will have to solve one or two puzzles.”
Captain Alexandra Popp from VfL Wolfsburg, who only made her comeback in the German selection in April after a protracted knee injury, had to be isolated last week at the training camp in Herzogenaurach because of a positive corona test. Hegering from FC Bayern Munich is actually the defense chief for the record European champions, but was missing almost the entire second half of the season. Dzsenifer Maroszan (Olympique Lyon) had canceled her participation in the European Championship for a long time.
“Germany is definitely one of the extended circle of favourites. But here, too, a good performance in the group is necessary to progress. Spain, Denmark and Finland are real challenges that need to be solved,” said Grings. She is basically very confident that Germany will go far. For the DFB women, the European Championship begins with the first round match against Denmark on July 8th.
Grings was also the top scorer in the 2005 and 2009 European Championship triumphs. The 96-time international won the double in Switzerland last season as the women’s coach at FC Zurich.