Hat trick avoided, semifinals reached: The German national soccer team freed itself from the small trauma of the past tournaments by beating Austria in the quarterfinals of the European Championship. The team still hasn’t conceded a goal, Alex Popp has already scored her fourth. The youngest members of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s team are particularly striking. The national coach thinks so, as does UEFA.
Merle Frohms: First things first: The zero is still there. Four European Championship games, the Neu-Wolfsburg native has still not conceded a goal. Some already remember Nadine Angerer, who didn’t concede a goal in the entire tournament on her way to the title at the 2007 World Cup. But Frohms only knows about it from hearsay, as she explains after the game – and she certainly doesn’t want to be measured by it. Because she also knows: It can happen quickly. Against Austria it would have been almost that far, the aluminum cleared three times. In the 52nd minute she made a big mistake: she played a pass to the left – directly to her ex-Teammate from Eintracht Frankfurt, Barbara Dunst. The Austrian shot at goal from a good 30 meters and cleared the crossbar. Just five minutes later, Frohms punched a ball straight at Sarah Puntingam’s foot, whose follow-up shot couldn’t go in because the inside post deflected decisively. Frohms then claimed to have deflected the ball minimally onto the crossbar. There was a lot of fuss about the 27-year-old because she replaced the great Almuth Schult as first-choice goalkeeper, a lot of praise and recognition then in the group phase of the tournament. The game against Austria wasn’t their best performance, but the result is a high level of whining.
Giulia Gwinn: The right rail player is known to like to get involved in the offensive. This time too, with her constant running, she caused a lot of fuss, whether on the right or in the middle. Just a few seconds after the restart, she fired a shot at the post, and her passes also created an offensive threat. But that also opened up space for the opponents, especially in the first quarter of an hour Verena Hanshaw came through twice on her side, the coordination with Kathi Hendrich, who was protecting her in central defense, was a bit missing at the start. In the 69th minute, Gwinn was spot on in the penalty area and skilfully blocked a ball.
Kathi Hendrich: In cooperation with Gwinn on the left defensive side, she once again has the protective part, which didn’t always go well at the beginning. Hendrich followed right away, she seemed to lack the feeling of security. In the build-up game, too, she initially made bad passes, but as the game progressed there was a clear improvement, the longer the game, the more she became a sovereign ball distributor.
Marina Hegering: The game started with pain for Hegering. Already in the 5th minute she got a knee from Sarah Zadrazil, but after a short treatment she was able to get up and continue playing. In the 9th minute she created Austria’s first good chance after going on the offensive but losing the ball in midfield. She is the last protection against Frohms, this time she also directed her team from behind, especially her defensive colleagues. However, she wasn’t nearly as convincing as in the first games, when nobody seemed to be able to get past her. But this time she designed her game with a lot of overview and strong header game again. But she made too many small mistakes for another outstanding game.
Felicitas Rauch: Especially at the beginning of the game, the left-back had a lot to do, the Austrians tried a lot of moves on their side. After her yellow card suspension against Finland, she was allowed to play again, although Sophia Kleinherne had done her job very well as a substitute. Rauch was challenged again immediately, the physical game of the opponents caused her problems at first, she lost many a duel. It was also a bit of luck that the Austrians didn’t make a fuss when they got past Rauch. Their corners from the right were well done, and several sharp crosses also created a goal threat.
Sophia Kleinherne (from the 90th minute): Was on the field for five seconds before the final whistle sounded.
Lina Magull: As in the opening match against Denmark, it was the Bayern player who gave her team the lead. In the 25th minute, she benefited from a fine pass from Klara Bühl, who had captured the ball from the left of the penalty area and passed it into the middle. In addition, Alex Popp kept his nerve and let through to Magull, who was more ready to shoot and who hit hard on the bottom right. Beautifully unlocked, dryly transformed. Her thigh continued to cause problems for Magull, but that didn’t stop her from making offensive moves worth seeing. And not because of a remarkable defensive position, when in the 42nd minute she bucked an Austrian shot in dire straits. After a little more than an hour it was over for the 27-year-old.
Linda Dallmann (from the 64th minute): She is only a substitute in this tournament, how bitter this role is is shown by the fact that she ran from the start due to the rotation against Finland – and was voted player of the game straight away. This time she was immediately present after being substituted on and set the tone in the offensive game with her fine ball. This provided relief in a storm phase for the Austrians. The Bayern player was just offside when Popp’s header was extended (69′), and she aimed just too high on two shots on target.
Lena Oberdorf: It cannot be emphasized enough: Lena Oberdorf is 20 years old. First, still. What the woman from Wolfsburg achieves regularly causes a storm of jubilation. This time even with national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who gave special praise after the game. She pulled through again consistently and didn’t avoid a duel. She sent a signal, especially in the turbulent opening minutes – and the wake-up call to her teammates was successful. In the 37th minute, she tackled a ball at the last second, otherwise Austria would have had a clear path towards goal. But not only defensively, she also worked offensively, even if a pass went in vain. In the 49th minute she managed to win the ball again, but her shot came too safely in front of Manuela Zinsberger’s goal. No reason for grief, her teammates then called Oberdorf “machine”.
Sara Däbritz: It’s fun to watch the future player from Olympique Lyon in her creative offensive game – normally. The Austrians, however, knew about Däbritz’s strength and accordingly gave her little freedom. Apparently she couldn’t handle that very well, seemed committed, but lost, especially in the first half. Instead of shining on the offensive, the 28-year-old had to plug holes on the defensive. Like in the 59th minute when she sprinted after Julia Hickelsberger-Füller, who had already passed the battered Rauch. Däbritz could only manage with a tactical foul and saw a yellow card for it. When she left the pitch in the 64th minute, she looked dissatisfied and exhausted.
Lena Lattwein (from 64th minute): The Wolfsburg player first integrated into the game inconspicuously before she played an outstanding pass to Popp in the 82nd minute, which initiated Klara Bühl’s big chance.
Svenja Huth: Fast, persistent, robust, technically adept: Nobody likes to play against Svenja Huth – say her opponents. This was also shown again against Austria. The fact that she received a brief snap from Alex Popp was due to her selfishness in the 43rd minute, when she herself ran free on the right almost to the goal line and then shot from a sharp angle instead of serving the better positioned Popp or Bühl. Nothing of note came up in the second half. Gwinn increasingly took command on their shared right flank, including in crossplay.
Sydney Lohmann (from 90th): Came onto the pitch together with Kleinherne, then it was over.
Klara Bühl: Klara Bühl was the woman of the match for UEFA – a very reasonable decision. Probably no opponent likes to play against the Munich player. This time she was again an absolute asset on the left, worked a lot, fought and made free space again and again and was lightning fast and safe in dribbling. She made it 1-0 for Magull and could have crowned her performance with a goal of her own. She had chances, also one that could be described as “hundred percent”: In the 82nd she would have only had to net after Popp’s preliminary work, but missed the left. Four minutes earlier, after a wonderful run from inside left into the penalty area, she had fired a shot at the crossbar (78′). She was obviously upset but was comforted by Voss-Tecklenburg, who substituted her in the 83rd minute. A big hug for a great game. Incidentally, Bühl is also just 21 years old.
Jule Brand (from 83rd): Collected more minutes, but there is nothing more to say.
Alex Popp: There is a clear principle in football: never write off Alexandra Popp. No matter how the game goes, she never gives up. The captain was also rewarded for her always exemplary attitude against Austria when in the 90th minute she provoked a mistake with a sprint in the direction of Zinsberger, snatched the ball from her and put it in to make it 2-0. It was her fourth goal in the fourth European Championship game. Previously, her will was never to be written off, but not everything went in favor of the Wolfsburg woman. She could have scored the opening goal early on (9th) when Bühl, who was standing next to her, put the ball on her. But Popp fell into reserve too much and shot well over it. As a result, she repeatedly put her head down and tried to intercept balls from Zinsberger with an early start. The scene before the 1-0 was a great feat when she didn’t throw any part of her body into Bühl’s pass, but skilfully let it through to Magull, who converted.
