DFB.de: What’s remarkable is that neither player usually features in central defence and were deployed there because of injuries within the squad.
Meinert: Strictly speaking, they’ve only had experience in that position from four previous internationals, which makes their performance all the more impressive. They work extremely well together, show total commitment and make a lot of good decisions. Without these two at the back – with Rebecca’s aerial ability and Maggi’s running and ability to anticipate play – we would have encountered major problems against Canada.
DFB.de: What makes you particularly proud of your team?
Meinert: I’m just happy that we’re in the semi-finals. I’m now looking forward to the coming week because I think we worked hard for this and deserve to have made it this far. We haven’t yet played a match at this World Cup where you can say we were operating at less than full speed, so now we’ve got to recover as well as we can.
DFB.de: USA, one of the tournament favourites, exited the competition at the quarter-final stage after losing on penalties. What do you make of that?
Meinert: Any team can be unlucky in a penalty shoot-out. I really thought we would come up against USA again at some point in the tournament, as at the 2012 World Cup where we met in the group stages and again in the final. You can never write off the Americans; the fact that this wasn’t enough for them against Korea DPR just shows how strong the North Koreans really are.
DFB.de: North Korea face Nigeria next, while your team will play their semi-final against France. How do you rate your opponents?
Meinert: France dominated their group and were the only team in the competition to win all three of their group games. They’re extremely strong both technically and tactically. I’m expecting an interesting encounter between two talented, attack-minded teams. We’re looking forward to it.
[bild1]
Germany’s U-20 women stormed into the semi-finals of the World Cup in Canada with a strong team performance, defeating the hosts 2-0 early on Sunday morning. The next challenge awaiting coach Maren Meinert’s team will be France on Thursday (live on Eurosport from 01:00 CET).
In DFB.de’s Interview of the Week, Meinert gives her verdict on the tournament so far, explains the key role played by centre-backs Rebecca Knaak and Margarita Gidion and looks ahead to the semi-final against Les Bleuettes.
DFB.de: The quarter-final is always a key match in any tournament. A win means your team stays to the very end for either the final or a third-place play-off. Does that make it doubly special for you?
Maren Meinert: It’s a huge relief and we’re delighted to be able to stay to the end of another World Cup. We worked hard to get here.
DFB.de: Where would you rate the match against Canada compared to the previous three games?
Meinert: You can’t compare these matches with one another. It wasn’t easy for us against Canada; we had to really go the extra mile. Nevertheless, we managed to keep a strong Canadian side away from our goal while posing an attacking threat of our own. Our first goal from Pauline Bremer was absolutely world-class, but we were always dangerous from set pieces. If we’d been able to decide the match sooner, we’d have been able to keep pushing forward. Instead, we were still under pressure at the end because Canada gave it their all.
DFB.de: The defence had a lot asked of them during this stage of the game.
Meinert: That’s right, and our centre-backs Rebecca Knaak and Margarita Gidion had a fantastic game. Full credit goes to them for a strong performance.
DFB.de: What’s remarkable is that neither player usually features in central defence and were deployed there because of injuries within the squad.
Meinert: Strictly speaking, they’ve only had experience in that position from four previous internationals, which makes their performance all the more impressive. They work extremely well together, show total commitment and make a lot of good decisions. Without these two at the back – with Rebecca’s aerial ability and Maggi’s running and ability to anticipate play – we would have encountered major problems against Canada.
DFB.de: What makes you particularly proud of your team?
Meinert: I’m just happy that we’re in the semi-finals. I’m now looking forward to the coming week because I think we worked hard for this and deserve to have made it this far. We haven’t yet played a match at this World Cup where you can say we were operating at less than full speed, so now we’ve got to recover as well as we can.
[bild2]
DFB.de: USA, one of the tournament favourites, exited the competition at the quarter-final stage after losing on penalties. What do you make of that?
Meinert: Any team can be unlucky in a penalty shoot-out. I really thought we would come up against USA again at some point in the tournament, as at the 2012 World Cup where we met in the group stages and again in the final. You can never write off the Americans; the fact that this wasn’t enough for them against Korea DPR just shows how strong the North Koreans really are.
DFB.de: North Korea face Nigeria next, while your team will play their semi-final against France. How do you rate your opponents?
Meinert: France dominated their group and were the only team in the competition to win all three of their group games. They’re extremely strong both technically and tactically. I’m expecting an interesting encounter between two talented, attack-minded teams. We’re looking forward to it.
