Germany’s U20 Women’s national team suffered an unfortunate quarter final exit at the World Cup in Papua New Guinea following near flawless performances in the group stage. After the close 1-0 defeat against a strong French team, the team set-out for their long return home on Saturday. In this interview with DFB.de, DFB Team coach Maren Meinert discussed the development of the players, the memories from Papua New Guinea and the future.
DFB.de: Mrs. Meinert, what are your feelings heading back to Germany?
Meinert: Obviously some disappointment at not making it as far in the tournament as we had hoped. But we also feel satisfaction, because we put in a good overall performance and the players developed further a lot in this space of time. I cannot criticise the team for anything, since they played well in the quarterfinal but France simply scored the one decisive goal.
DFB.de: What did you enjoy the most that was displayed on the pitch?
Meinert: Our attacking game was very good. We were calm and had good combinations going forward and we created many chances. Many of the things we had worked on in training were executed. In defence we showed great unity, as everyone ran for one another and we had good pressing from midfield. I am proud of how the team has developed. For that reason, it is a shame that we cannot compete in more games. But the players already learned a lot from these four matches.”
DFB.de: How important was this experience especially for the young players?
Meinert: It is important that we always qualify for these tournaments. A competition like this is always something special and different to friendly games. Only during a tournament you can really live through the team spirit. The atmosphere in this team and our unity was enormous and the injuries drew us even closer to one another. We could see that on the pitch and that is what these youth team tournaments are about. We want the players to continue their development.
DFB.de: What memories from Papua New Guinea will the players cherish the most?
Germany’s U20 Women’s national team suffered an unfortunate quarter final exit at the World Cup in Papua New Guinea following near flawless performances in the group stage. After the close 1-0 defeat against a strong French team, the team set-out for their long return home on Saturday. In this interview with DFB.de, DFB Team coach Maren Meinert discussed the development of the players, the memories from Papua New Guinea and the future.
DFB.de: Mrs. Meinert, what are your feelings heading back to Germany?
Meinert: Obviously some disappointment at not making it as far in the tournament as we had hoped. But we also feel satisfaction, because we put in a good overall performance and the players developed further a lot in this space of time. I cannot criticise the team for anything, since they played well in the quarterfinal but France simply scored the one decisive goal.
DFB.de: What did you enjoy the most that was displayed on the pitch?
Meinert: Our attacking game was very good. We were calm and had good combinations going forward and we created many chances. Many of the things we had worked on in training were executed. In defence we showed great unity, as everyone ran for one another and we had good pressing from midfield. I am proud of how the team has developed. For that reason, it is a shame that we cannot compete in more games. But the players already learned a lot from these four matches.”
DFB.de: How important was this experience especially for the young players?
Meinert: It is important that we always qualify for these tournaments. A competition like this is always something special and different to friendly games. Only during a tournament you can really live through the team spirit. The atmosphere in this team and our unity was enormous and the injuries drew us even closer to one another. We could see that on the pitch and that is what these youth team tournaments are about. We want the players to continue their development.
DFB.de: What memories from Papua New Guinea will the players cherish the most?
Meinert: We played in front of several thousands of spectators at this World Cup and that was a new and very exciting experience for the players. In the quarterfinal there was nearly a crowd of 10,000 people and the atmosphere was great during all the games. Even on our way to training or to the stadium the people cheered us on. When we were at the airport, a large group of fans gave us traditional presents as they said farewell. They will certainly never forget the hospitality, openness and enthusiasm of the people of Papua New Guinea. But also the down sides in this very poor country will have left an impression.
DFB.de: What is next for the players?
Meinert: We will keep the players born in 1998, of which we already had a few with us here in Papua New Guinea. Five of them even made the starting line-up, which is quite a lot. We will continue to work with these players, as they will be required to take on leading roles at the U19 European Championships next year and in two years, should we qualify, they could take part at their second World Cup at the U20 level. Some of the older players could see the door to the Women’s national team open up in the near future.
