The prospects for the German national women’s team before the first European Championship game are great. And on Friday the DFB women want to take the important good start against Poland with full conviction.
Full of confidence and in a good mood, national coach Christian Wück and co-captain Janina Minge presented themselves in St. Gallen on Thursday. Germany starts the tournament in the Kybunpark on Friday (from 8:15 p.m. in the first and in the live stream). There is (yet) no trace of nervousness. “I think I’m the same as always,” said Wück, for whom it will be the first European Championship game in the women’s area. He expects to be able to sleep well, but also with the fact that the adrenaline will come when the kick -off is closer to the match day.
The first group game is of great importance on the way to the targeted title in Switzerland. Bad memories of the youngest duels with the Polishes, when German women had to go behind one behind, should not play a major role.
“I saw again how many players of today were in the starting line -up. It was only three,” said Wück. A lot has happened since the spring of last year. In the team, but also around it.
DFB women: distraction with excursion and Birthday party
In order to get the necessary looseness before the start, a little distraction had recently been on the program. On Wednesday afternoon, the entire team traveled to Lucerne together with all supervisors and the coaching team on a trip to the boat and mountain trip. “We enjoyed getting out of the soccer field again and down from the soccer field. Seeing nature and getting to know Switzerland,” said Jule Brand.
In the evening there was a small celebration for Giulia Gwinn. The captain celebrated her 26th birthday. There had already serenaded and applause in the morning. The cake followed later.
And at the end of the day, the DFB women looked at the European Championship opening between Switzerland and Norway (1: 2). In comfortable deck chairs on the meadow in front of the hotel. Gwinn had already pleased in advance to get together in the necessary European Championship mood and to feel the right “vibe”.
Germany against Poland in the best line -up
But now it’s getting serious. “We started here to win this title. I already believe that it is inside us,” emphasized Wück. “We can really do it. The game against Poland will be the most important thing to get into the flow.” Minge said that “of course there was a certain pressure”. “But we are aware of how good we are. And we try to make ourselves a head as little as possible.”
Good news for the national coach: He can draw on Poland in terms of personnel. After a few smaller ailments in the past few days, he has now “the full selection”.
Wücks Role distribution: “Quite good how it was solved”
He will only tell the team on the match day: After a breakfast together and the mandatory activation, the game meeting follows with a last look at the standard situations and the starting XI.
However, the players have known for a long time how the national coach is planning with them. “Communication was a big topic. We wanted to distribute roles – and they are very clear,” had recently reported Sjoeke Nüsken.
Brand, which may be on the right wing, does not believe that the motivation could suffer from a “firm” role as a supplementary player: “There is clarity and everyone can adjust to it. Anyone who is on the bench is there for the team. Everyone is pushing up to us to get the last out of us.” For them, the pronounced trust means security. She thinks it “quite good how it was solved”.
Expert Schult: “Tournament comes at the right time”
The chance that a win in the opening game has increased significantly in recent weeks. What the team is going on under Wück has recently become significantly clearer, said Almuth Schult. “It has become easier to set up a first team. You have the feeling that the team took a huge step forward from the mood,” said the sports show expert with a view to the recent victories against the Netherlands (4: 0) and in Austria (6-0).
Something happened in the game against the Netherlands. You can’t really grab it. But something happened – in the team structure and in the conviction within the team.
She “has the feeling that the tournament is now more of the right time. In April you probably still doubted that.”
In addition to the mood, the former national goalkeeper sees the good mix in the squad as the strength of the DFB women. “You can adjust very well to an opponent and change the game again and again, through substitutions. It is also unpredictable for the opponents.”
Poland – not just superstar Ewa Pajor
“We want to get a good feeling,” emphasized Nüsken. But: “It is the first European Championship game for Poland. They will be very hot.” Therefore, you have to “keep it directly” and “open our game” to the opponent. This is how captain Gwinn also sees: “Of course we concentrate a bit on Poland, but know that the main focus should be on us. That we want to dominate this game.”
I have already played an incredibly often against Ewa Pajor. It is extremely fast. We have to prevent the depth runs. But I am sure that we can get them well under control.
Poland, that is Ewa Pajor. The striker from FC Barcelona, who had previously made a name for herself in the Bundesliga at VfL Wolfsburg from 2015 to 2024 and had become twice top scorer, is the superstar in the team. But a whole series of players such as Natalia Padilla-Bidas (Bayern Munich), who had most recently met against Germany, or the long-time Frankfurt team Tanja Pawollek, who will play for promoted Union Berlin after the European Championship, bring a lot of quality.
Wück warns of the opponent
And even if the two youngest duels were with the Pole before Wück’s time, he still warned of the opponent: “We have to work a lot and deliver our best performance over 90 minutes plus X.” As well as his team, Poland has a high individual quality. “We have to go to the limit to be successful.” And then she should stay very well – the mood among the DFB women and her trainer.