Redemption was successful, the Olympic dress rehearsal was a success – but worries about Lena Oberdorf clouded the mood among the DFB women.
The mascot “Ottienne” flew through the air, Horst Hrubesch himself led the “La Ola” with the fans, but one player was missing from the DFB women’s celebration after the successful Olympic dress rehearsal. Lena Oberdorf limped off the pitch during the 4-0 (2-0) win over Austria in Hanover. A knee injury to the 22-year-old midfielder would be a serious setback for Germany’s ambitions at the tournament in France.
“That would hurt us like hell, she is an important factor,” said Hrubesch on “ARD,” “I hope it is not that bad, we will wait and see.” However, the images of Oberdorf’s duel with Frankfurt’s Barbara Dunst did not really give us hope. She patted the grass with a face contorted in pain, and Hrubesch also admitted that he “couldn’t bear” the sight very well.
Things went well until Oberdorf was substituted after 71 minutes. Inspired by Klara Bühl’s goal (11th), the DFB women controlled the game. With further goals from Jule Brand (39th), Lea Schüller (52nd) and again Bühl (90th+3), they created euphoria in front of 43,953 fans in Hanover and said goodbye to France with much applause and as group winners in the qualification for the 2025 European Championship. On Friday, they suffered a bitter 0-3 defeat in Iceland.
“We were there from the start, that was incredibly important, that makes us strong and gives us confidence, we have to take that with us into the next games, which are incredibly important,” said double goalscorer Bühl: “The fans were there the whole game. It’s an incredible feeling to play in front of such a crowd.”
German team in goal-scoring mood
Before the match, Hrubesch had demanded that the team “make up for something” and show a “different face” than in Reykjavik. This worked even without captain Alexandra Popp, defensive leader Marina Hegering and midfielder Sydney Lohmann, who were not used due to injury. Ann-Katrin Berger replaced her rival Merle Frohms in goal – and provided two assists. However, Hrubesch does not want to resolve the goalkeeper question until shortly before the Olympic opening in Marseille. “I also know what I have in Merle,” he said.
With the Iceland warning shot in mind, the German team had clearly made an effort to start with initial chances from Laura Freigang (5th) and Giulia Gwinn (10th). After Bühl took the lead, Germany took control of the game. The “La Ola” swept the stands. “The positive result is important for us,” said Hrubesch, “we could have made it even clearer.” Schüller hit the crossbar (50th minute), Sjoeke Nüsken scored (90th+1), but the referee decided to let play continue due to a lack of goal-line technology.
Source: www.sport.de
