Schult: If you look at all the chances that both sides had, the USA probably deserved to win. We could have scored ourselves before they did, because we put in a few good balls into the area. If they hadn’t scored with their first chance, then the game could have gone very differently.
DFB.de: What has to get better going forward?
Schult: We have to work on breaking down our opponent’s defence better. We worked the ball up from the back to our attackers well a few times, but the last pass or cross didn’t hit its target. The Americans were better at that. We didn’t get enough shots on target, with too many from distance - we’ll be looking to work on that.
DFB.de: England beat France 4-1 to kick off their tournament. What do you take from the game?
Schult: I couldn’t follow the game too closely so I can’t really say if England were just more efficient or if they actually dominated France. We’ll look at that more closely when we do our video analysis session. It was definitely a surprise to see them when by such a large margin though. We also beat France 4-0 in November, it’s possible in football. We’re really looking forward to the rest of the tournament.
In their SheBelieves Cup opener on Thursday, the Germany Women’s National team missed out on beating the reigning World Champions and tournament hosts after they lost 1-0. Goalkeeper Almuth Schult spoke with DFB.de after the game on what Germany can learn from the game and the upcoming games against England on Sunday (21:00 CET) and France on Wednesday (22.00 CET).
DFB.de: What’s your summary of the loss to the USA?
Almuth Schult: It was a bit like the last few years. We played well in the first half. In the second half, we had a phase where we were on the back foot. The Americans were particularly dangerous on the counter attack. That’s how they scored - a long ball, which was very typical of this game. It’s a shame that we conceded like that, because they started quite slowly. However, we weren’t good enough in attack and the final pass was often missing. Our crosses also went too close to Alyssa Naeher in goal. It was a frustrating performance.
DFB.de: The game was played in difficult conditions. How did you find it?
Schult: It was definitely a challenge. In the second half, it felt like a blizzard was passing through the stadium - almost a small snowstorm. The corner flags were almost on the floor. It was obviously difficult to play football in the conditions, but it’s not an excuse. It was still a good game to watch given the conditions, although it’s still disappointing. We set out to beat them this time, but we came up just short.
DFB.de: What can you learn from this game going into the rest of the tournament?
Schult: You could see that we had some good moments in that game when we gave the Americans problems. We have to build on that. We had a good body language, played aggressively and worked hard in defense. We can’t be too down about things, the Americans didn’t completely dominate the game. We lost 1-0, that happens sometimes. We’re obviously not happy about it, but we had our chances to get the equaliser.
DFB.de: Does that make the loss even more frustrating?
Schult: If you look at all the chances that both sides had, the USA probably deserved to win. We could have scored ourselves before they did, because we put in a few good balls into the area. If they hadn’t scored with their first chance, then the game could have gone very differently.
DFB.de: What has to get better going forward?
Schult: We have to work on breaking down our opponent’s defence better. We worked the ball up from the back to our attackers well a few times, but the last pass or cross didn’t hit its target. The Americans were better at that. We didn’t get enough shots on target, with too many from distance - we’ll be looking to work on that.
DFB.de: England beat France 4-1 to kick off their tournament. What do you take from the game?
Schult: I couldn’t follow the game too closely so I can’t really say if England were just more efficient or if they actually dominated France. We’ll look at that more closely when we do our video analysis session. It was definitely a surprise to see them when by such a large margin though. We also beat France 4-0 in November, it’s possible in football. We’re really looking forward to the rest of the tournament.
