Germany received a bitter defeat at the European Championship against Sweden. Before the quarter -finals, the national coach is now important.
Almost ten years ago, the DFB women in the Algarve Cup experienced a nasty surprise: Sweden defeated Germany 4-2. Since then, the team has no longer conceded in a single game. But on Saturday the ominous Déjà-Vu followed: Germany was lost 1: 4 in the third group game of the European Championship-again against Sweden.
The group victory was there and national coach Christian Wück is under pressure: In the quarter -finals against France, he must now deliver.
However, a well-known problem prevails in his still young term as national coach of the German national team. The debacle against Sweden was more than just a slip – it revealed weaknesses that he has not yet remedied.
When Wück made his debut in October last year, it quickly became clear what his biggest challenge would be. Already in the first duel with England, which Germany won 4: 3, the high number of goals conceded was a problem. It was obvious: a stable defense was needed.
So he has tried to find solutions in the past eight months, experimented on the defensive – and at least never conceded more than two goals until the end. But Wück has so far not been able to close the gaping gap, which was still tightened by the resignation of ex-defense chief Marina Hegering.
Captain Janina Minge has established herself on the defensive and has become a constant. But Wück’s ideal imagination- two central defenders, one left and one right-footed- led him to banish the experienced Kathrin Hendrich from the regular formation. Instead, he relied on the still less tried and tested Rebecca Knaak, who had weaknesses in the positional game and the speed of action in her seven international matches so far.
In this way, the German team was not able to build a consistency defensively. Wück experiment against Sweden after the first three goals with a chain of three. Afterwards, his eleven only conceded another goal. But the problem that runs through his term remained: a reliable defense formation is still not in sight.
And Wück opened another construction site. After the 2-1 win against Denmark, he suddenly criticized goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger. Her risky playing style was contrary to him, he announced a conversation with her. Just a few days later, he rowed back and assured that a goalkeeper debate was not an issue – and the public had cooked the whole thing up. But here, too, the coach got stuck in his own case of misunderstandings, because even before the European Championship in Switzerland, he had been criticized for his lack of communication – left -back Felicitas Rauch had complained about Wück’s style of communication in the social networks.
So a lot of work is still waiting for the national coach. But: Time runs away from him. On Saturday, his team with France meets a tournament favorite and opponent who knows how to take advantage of every mistake in Germany. He must now pursue a clear plan and give the team security to avoid premature resignation from the European Championship.