World Cup game against Morocco: Can “expert” Magull Germany cheer again?

Lina Magull scored the first and last goal for Germany at the European Championships in England. She also wants to create special moments in Germany’s opening game at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on Monday against Morocco.

If anyone knows about important goals, it’s Lina Magull. The 28-year-old scored Germany’s goal in the European Championship final against England (1-2) last year and at least brought the team into overtime after going behind. In retrospect, her first goal in England was probably much more important: With the 1-0 win in the group game against Denmark (4-0), Magull put the DFB women on the road to victory, from which they only strayed again against the hosts.

“You have to take such moments positively for yourself. I’m not overly self-confident or bring a certain arrogance with me. I’m always very critical of myself,” Magull describes himself. “But I’m now able to take the positive moments into the next game.”

final training: Oberdorf completely there

Magull is ready for the first group game in Melbourne against Morocco on Monday (10.30am CEST / via live audio stream). She is convinced that “we can also achieve great things at the World Cup”. There are still question marks behind the stakes of several players. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg did not want to comment on the line-up at the press conference on Sunday (July 23, 2023) (“The opponent can still think about it a bit”), but when asked, she once again underlined her basic attitude of not sending ailing players onto the field: “Anything else wouldn’t be smart. We want to play more than one game here.”

For defense chief Marina Hegering, the game is definitely too early after her bruised heel. Her deputy Sjoeke Nüsken, who had stretched the lateral ligament in her right knee, reported back surprisingly quickly. “The knee is great,” said the central defender as she left the Sportschau hotel. Like Hegering, she did not complete the final training session in Melbourne on Sunday. Oberdorf, however, was fully involved in the unit.

Victory in the first game should carry through the tournament again

While the German starting eleven is still a big mystery at the moment, everyone in the DFB camp is aware of the difficulty of the task ahead of the Morocco game. “They have developed very well in the last two years. You can see that they are taking the next steps. We can expect a compact team that is defensively very stable,” Voss-Tecklenburg praised the North Africans. It will take patience, explained the national coach, who hopes that her team will be able to use its “offensive power”.

Voss-Tecklenburg and her players are aware of the importance of a good start after the World Cup preparation games against Vietnam (2-1) and Zambia (2-3) were anything but convincing. “Of course that would do something with the self-confidence, with the team flow that can then develop,” said captain Alexandra Popp, adding: “We want to give it our all, push our game through to achieve a good, stable result. That would give us a good feeling for the other games.”

“Our group is definitely not a sure-fire success. We have to start well and then take the flow with us,” said Popp, referring to Group H, which also includes Colombia and South Korea. Her deputy Svenja Huth is hoping for an early goal and added: “We want to enjoy our game on Monday and give it our all.”

Is Morocco coming in behind?

Video analysis is part of the final preparation for the Morocco game. The players can watch game scenes and find out about their opponents on their tablets. “I’ve already looked at a lot,” said Lena Lattwein on Saturday. “We expect Morocco to be very compact, probably in a 4-4-2. They will try to emphasize the transition moments.”

That’s why counter-pressing and deep protection had been trained in the past few days. So the weak points in the game against Zambia. In view of Zambia’s captain Barbra Banda’s goals, Popp had already said: “If someone is ten km/h faster, you can’t do anything.” All that remains is to stop the passes.

U15 juniors imitate the in the test Moroccans

“We have to be on the air,” Felicitas Rauch warned and once again called for “learning the lessons from the Zambia game”. The dress rehearsal was very important because: “How often do you play against teams from Africa?”

The Zambians were just as deliberately chosen as the last test opponents, as were the U15 juniors of the Central Coast Mariners, against whom the DFB women played behind closed doors this week. The boys were set up by their coach in the way the DFB expects the Moroccans to be. The outcome of the game has not been announced. “It was a good test,” said Sydney Lohmann on Sunday. “If it’s crunch time now, we’ll be there.”

Magull is ready for the special moments again

The game against Morocco is now back on the big stage. Melbourne Rectangular Stadium is said to be sold out with 30,000 fans. A game made for Lina Magull.

She has “grown up in her style of play,” says the native of Dortmund, who just celebrated the German championship again with Bayern Munich. Her great strengths are the old ones: “I love the game going forward, I always want to have the ball and always be involved in the game.” And she also wants to “create special moments again that nobody expects” against Morocco.

Of course, the DFB women can always use them, whether in the European Championship final against England or in the first World Cup group game against Morocco. “In my area it’s all about goals and assists. That’s where I’ve developed. And there’s still potential for improvement. Otherwise it would be boring,” says Magull, who is at least as familiar with tension and emotions as she is with important goals.