From BZ/dpa
When France reached the semi-finals, the DFB women watched the TV very closely. “It will be a game of equals,” says the national coach after the well-deserved victory of the next opponent against the defending European Championship champions, the Netherlands.
The DFB team is full of respect in the semi-finals of the European Championship against France. “They played really well, they deserved to win, they have great individual players,” said Joti Chatzialexiou, head of the national teams at the association, in a ZDF interview after the French women’s 1-0 victory after extra time on Saturday evening in the quarter-finals against the defending champions Netherlands.
“They have a brutal quality and are really good, especially on the flanks. I was surprised that it took so long.”
The German national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg celebrates the 2-0 win in the quarterfinals against Austria Photo: picture alliance
Chatzialexiou saw the game of the vastly superior opponent on Wednesday (9 p.m. CEST/ZDF) in Milton Keynes like the team at the team headquarters in Brenford. France prevailed in Rotherham with a penalty goal from Eve Perisset (102nd minute) and previously missed numerous chances.
Boundless jubilation: The French are happy about reaching the semi-finals Photo: picture alliance
“It’s a tough opponent, we know that France has enormous quality in the transition moments, fantastic individual players with a lot of speed,” said the national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. “We have to try to give them little space. We’re going to give everything we’ve got on Wednesday. I believe that France also has respect for the performance we showed. So it will be a game of equals.”
If you look at the French team on paper, “it’s a fifty-fifty game,” said Chatzialexiou. “It’s a semi-final, that will definitely be decided in our heads.” He has “no worries because I can feel the energy in our team”.