Schüller equalized in the 1-1 draw against Spain in the Arnold Clark Cup in February – against a superior opponent. It was only much later that the Germans found the unity and strength that characterizes them at the moment. “We really have an extreme quality across the board, anyone could be in the starting XI,” said full-back Giulia Gwinn before Schüller’s absence.
Wolfsburg’s Svenja Huth, last captain for Popp, explained: “We used the time intensively to develop further. Germany has always had a good team structure, but now it’s very, very good and that can be the key to the be successful.”
It’s all about the defense
France have now also recommended themselves as tournament favorites with a 5-1 win over Italy. Against Spain, the DFB selection will have a lot of defensive work to do. “They will challenge us in a completely different way. We have to communicate a lot. We’re going into the next game with a lot of determination,” stressed defender Marina Hegering.
As group leaders, the DFB women, who still meet Finland on Saturday, could also play their quarter-final game in the London district of Brentford and would not have to change quarters. And they could potentially avoid hosts England, Group A favourites.
Spain in top form – but without superstars
The Spanish team has been unbeaten in 24 games, didn’t concede a single goal in nine games in 2021, but has never won against Germany – and yet they go into the match at Brentford Community Stadium with a big handicap: missing on the way to the hoped-for first international title World footballer Alexia Putellas (torn cruciate ligament) and record goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso (internal ligament injury), who scored 45 goals in 91 games.
“It will be interesting to see whether Spain can actually compensate for the loss and what that means for the team in the course of the tournament,” wrote substitute goalkeeper and Olympic champion Almuth Schult in her column for the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND)”: “It gets even worse for Alexia herself At 28, she is in the prime of footballing age, is the current superstar of her sport in Europe with 1.7 million followers on Instagram and wanted to show everyone how beautiful football can be.”