DFB Women achieve perfect Euros qualification

Steffi Jones has won her second of two games as the Germany Women’s national team coach, meaning Germany have qualified for the European Championships with a perfect record. In the final game of Group 5, the Olympic gold medalists from Rio won 1-0 against Hungary and with that secured qualification. With a maximum 24 points from eight games and a total of 35 goals for and none against, the DFB Women can go into EURO 2017 in the Netherlands with a lot of confidence and try to defend their title.

An own goal from Hungary’s Viktoria Szabo in the 29th minute turned out to be the only goal of the game, which was a stark contrast to the last match the two nations played, when Germany triumphed 12-0. It has therefore been a successful start for Jones in her new job, but of course “some work” is still to be done before next summer. The match was no goal fest, but this was partly down to the large amount of rotation forced upon the coach.

Kayikci and Klasen debut in first team

The former national team player, capped 11 times by her country, fielded a rather different side to the one which beat Russia convincingly 4-0. Jaqueline Klasen of SGS Essen and Hasret Kayikci of SC Freiburg made their debuts in the first team. Klasen slotted into the right-back position of a back four, made up of Anna Blässe at left-back, and Josephine Henning and Babett Peter in central defence – the latter two keeping their starting roles from the game against Russia.

In goal, Jones again trusted Lisa Weiß, who was covering for number one Almuth Schult. Germay lined up with a diamond midfield, with Kristin Demann in the deeper role, Tabea Kemme on the left, Sara Doorsoun on the right and captain Anja Mittag in the most advanced midfield position. Two debutants linked up in attack as Hasret Kayikci was paired with Lena Petermann.

However, the Hungarians thwarted the DFB Women’s plans as they defended compactly and were aggressive in tackles, this disrupted Germany’s attempts to start an attack almost before they had a chance to build one - it was clear that Hungary were fully concentrated on destroying their opponents’ play.

Own goal from Saarbrückens Szabo after a corner

The breakthrough for Germany came from an own goal from a Tabea Kemme corner in the 29th minute, as Viktoria Szabo of second division side 1. FC Saarbrücken accidently headed in to her own net. However, further chances and good play in the first half were hard to come by.

In the second half, Anja Mittag was replaced by Linda Dallmann so Lisa Weiß took the captain’s armband in her third international appearance. Kristin Demann tested the Hungarian goalkeeper with a strike from range in the 51st minute – this was the DFB Women’s only other chance of a difficult and tight game.

Three international games left

Substitutes Svenja Huth (for Kayyikci in the 62nd minute) and Verena Faißt (for Kemme in the 72nd minute) also proved fruitless in Germany’s attempts to find more goals. For Hungary, their best chance came for Jakabfi in the 74th minute as she just missed the target with a header from a free kick out-wide.

The DFB Women have more chances to re-group and practice together later in the year. On the 22nd of October, the Olympic champions will play a friendly in Regensburg, although the opponent is not yet known, and three days later they will face the hosts of the Euros in 2017 in Aalen, the Netherlands (16:10 CEST). The final international game of the year will take place on the 29th of November (16:00 CEST), as Germany will play Norway in Chemnitz. The European Championship will take place from the 16th of July to the 6th of August 2017.