Horst Hrubesch is approaching his role as interim national coach of the German women’s national team with great anticipation. The German football legend’s big goal is to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
The 72-year-old explained at a press conference on the German Football Association campus on Friday morning that he had “no concerns whatsoever” about taking up the position a second time after 2018. “I know most of the players and know what quality there is in them. The decisive factor was that the Olympics are on the back burner. I think that this is the absolute highlight for the girls. This is an incentive for women’s football in Germany alone – you just have to be there,” explained the former national player.
“Football is a very simple game. You just have to score more goals and not let them in.”
— Horst Hrubesch
The youth boss of the second division club Hamburger SV is replacing the ill national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg for an indefinite period of time. It is uncertain whether the 55-year-old will return to the bench of the record European champions. “We want her to recover well. We will then sit down together to discuss all issues. There will be no pressure in any way,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf.
Voss-Tecklenburg failed in the preliminary round with the German team at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Afterwards the criticism of her became louder.
“We will determine what happens”
Now Hrubesch is supposed to rebuild the unsettled team. “We have to clear our heads and just have fun. I’m not interested in the opponent. I’m interested in what we play. We’ll instill that in the girls and then we’ll determine what happens. And we’ll win the games,” said the long-time Bundesliga goalscorer. His formula for success: “Football is a very simple game. You just have to score more goals and not allow any.”
Neuendorf raves about Hrubesch and thanks HSV
The 72-year-old had the laughs on his side. And Neuendorf is firmly convinced that Hrubesch will also hit the right note with the national team. “In the current situation, we all have the feeling that he has a knack for the situation and the players. That he knows how to deal with them correctly and has the right approach. And above all, he has an extremely high level of acceptance among the players. And I think that’s very important,” said the DFB boss.
It was a “lucky coincidence” that the association was able to win Hrubesch for the task at such short notice, added Neuendorf and thanked the HSV for the good cooperation. Its board member Jonas Boldt behaved “topically”.
Hrubesch starts his second term in office
Hrubesch had already coached the DFB women in 2018 between the terms of office of Steffi Jones and Voss-Tecklenburg. In this respect, the Hammer native knows a few players such as captain Alexandra Popp, Svenja Huth and Lina Magull. Britta Carlson, who most recently represented Voss-Tecklenburg, remains on the supervisory staff. According to DFB Sport managing director Andreas Rettig, Carlson refused to represent Voss-Tecklenburg permanently: “We have to accept that.”
Hrubesch’s confidante Thomas Nörenberg is back as another assistant coach. The position of sports director for women is still vacant.
National players pushed for a solution
Many national players had recently clearly called for a solution as the situation surrounding Voss-Tecklenburg was clearly causing them problems. The national coach has been missing for six weeks now and the World Cup analysis could not be completed. The World Cup debacle and the subsequent 2-0 opening defeat in Denmark in the Nations League caused deep uncertainty.
“I miss the joy with which they always played. And the character trait of never giving up. I will ask them why that is.”
— Horst Hrubesch
A small mood booster for the record European champions was the subsequent 4-0 win in Bochum against Iceland, in which the DFB team showed their undoubtedly great potential. He believes “in this squad and these players. I know what they can do and I assume that they will deliver,” emphasized Hrubesch. “We have to give 100 percent every game and play for goals.”
The other opponent in Group A3 is Wales, who Germany will meet next Friday (5.45 p.m.) in Sinsheim. Four days later, on Tuesday, October 31st, the second leg against Iceland takes place in Reykjavík (8 p.m.).
DFB team wants to go to the Olympics via Nations League
Only the first group in the Nations League still has a chance of getting a ticket to the Olympics in Paris 2024, but they have to survive the semi-finals. In addition to host France, only two European teams are allowed to go to the summer games. Hrubesch had already saved the endangered World Cup qualification for France 2019 during his first term in office.
If the Summer Games were missed, the next big tournament would be the 2025 European Championships in Switzerland. But Hrubesch doesn’t want to think that far: “I’m convinced that we can go to the Olympics with the squad and the team and manage it.”
Neuendorf was in the same vein: “We all have a common goal – and that is qualifying for the Olympics. And we hope that with Horst we can make a lot of progress in the next games and also qualify.”
Däbritz and Huth back in the squad – Frohms is out
In his comeback as national coach, Hrubesch initially relies on proven talent. There are hardly any changes in the squad for the duels with Wales and Iceland compared to the squad for the previous games. “Now that the pressure is there, I expect the existing construct to work straight away,” he said. The only new members of the team are the returnees Sara Däbritz (Olympique Lyon) and Svenja Huth (VfL Wolfsburg). Däbritz was recently absent due to a bereavement, Huth due to the birth of her son.
However, Hrubesch has to do without regular goalkeeper Merle Frohms from VfL Wolfsburg due to a concussion. “It wouldn’t have made sense to throw the whole squad over,” said Hrubesch, who refrained from experimenting: “I see a lot of potential in these players and therefore have great confidence that we will play these two important Nations League games positively. We want to tackle it together.”
This topic in the program:
Sports current | Oct 20, 2023 | 11:17 am
