Martina Voss-Tecklenburg presents her extended squad 50 days before the start of the World Cup – but whether the title hunt of the EM heroes can be followed on TV remains to be seen.
Exactly 50 days before the start of the World Cup, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg creates facts, but football fans in Germany are still groping in the dark. On the DFB campus in Frankfurt/Main, the women’s national coach revealed her extended squad for the title hunt Down Under on Wednesday afternoon – but the horror scenario TV blackout still clouds the anticipation.
“I can only make this appeal again and again: be solution-oriented, find a way,” warned the increasingly annoyed Voss-Tecklenburg, looking at the tough poker game between world governing body FIFA and the public broadcasters: “There would only be losers if this World Cup is not shown on television.”
To ensure that the final round in Australia and New Zealand (July 20th to August 20th) is still broadcast in this country, Bernd Neuendorf has intervened as a mediator. The President of the German Football Association (DFB), who is also a member of the FIFA Council, recently expressed confidence: “I’m still optimistic that it can work.”
WM: Personnel issues are clarified individually
Whether the World Cup will still work out is also the big question for Giulia Gwinn with regard to the almost 30 chosen ones. The regular in external defense returned to team training with champions Bayern Munich last week after tearing his second cruciate ligament in October.
Participation in the World Cup was always the big goal of the 23-year-old during the rehab period. “As of now, it is mathematically possible if everything is going well,” Gwinn said in a BR podcast at the beginning of May.
Marina Hegering, Linda Dallmann and Lena Lattwein also struggled with injuries recently. Voss-Tecklenburg has recently kept a low profile on personnel issues. “We’ll discuss the issues again individually with the players,” then “decisions will be made based on the current situation,” said the 55-year-old.
Course of the preparation of the DFB team
One thing is certain: After a short vacation, Alexandra Popp and Co. will start on June 20th – 17 days after VfL Wolfsburg’s Champions League final against FC Barcelona next Saturday – in the first part of the World Cup preparations in the “HomeGround” of the DFB partner adidas. The foundation stone for the EM high flight in England was laid there last year.
The “ghost of Herzogenaurach” should continue to be summoned in the second half from July 1st. On June 24th and July 7th in Offenbach and Fürth against Vietnam and Zambia, the World Cup form will be checked in the final friendlies.
Only then will the official squad be reduced to 23 players. On July 11th, the runners-up European champions will then travel to the other end of the world – possibly with two or three backup players.
So the two-time world champion has enough time to acclimatize in his base camp in Wyong, around 90 km north of Sydney, before the first preliminary round game on July 24th. In Group H with Morocco, Colombia (July 30) and South Korea (August 3), the DFB team is the clear favorite, but in the knockout phase there is an immediate threat of tough duels with France or Brazil.