For Giulia Gwinn, the European Football European Championship is over, the shock is deep-in the team, but above all at Gwinn itself. The DFB now needs solutions.
Kim Steinke reports from Zurich
The worst-case scenario has not occurred. Because: Giulia Gwinn has not torn the cruciate ligament for the third time. Due to an inner ligament injury in the left knee, it will nevertheless fail for the rest of the European Championship in Switzerland. The German national team thus lacks its captain and absolute key player.
It has been a real tremor around the 26-year-old since the change in the game against Poland (2-0) in the 40th minute. Until the end, both the team itself and football Germany had hoped that in the end it was only a smaller injury and that Gwinn was not.
Laura Freikang had said after the game: “It is extremely bitter, Giuli is such an important person for us, of course as a player.” T-online looked closely: The players of the DFB team was clearly looking at the shock of the injury in the stadium’s catacombs at a later hour.
When T-Online arrived at the German team hotel on Saturday afternoon, there was a lot going on. Several players left the hotel – driving from an underground car park. However, nothing could be seen by Giulia Gwinn. A fan took a picture of the team bus, guests went in and out – that was it at first. Until the DFB announced at 2:55 p.m. that there would be an official announcement on the severity of Gwinn’s injury promptly.
Almost an hour later, the sad certainty came: inner ligament injury and EM-out. DFB director Nia Künzer then explained: “She is depressed, was very looking forward to the tournament, was prepared. Accordingly, she is now disappointed.” And further: “We are trying to distribute responsibility and roles over many shoulders. And that will be the case now. Giuli is not out of the world. She is still doing a lot in this team.”
It was 18 hours until the sad certainty. Now the team has to catch themselves quickly and show a now-right-right attitude. The other preliminary round games against Denmark on Tuesday (6 p.m. in the live ticker near T-Online) and on July 12th (9pm in the live ticker at T-Online) against Sweden will soon be pending-afterwards you will be able to see how difficult the failure of Giulia Gwinn was at the end.