On Wednesday the German women’s national team plays against France in Strasbourg, a real "acid test" for Germany to kick off their European Championship year. In this interview, Germany head coach Silvia Neid looks ahead to the match against the French team, tipped to be one of the favourites to win the tournament. She explains why she will rotate goal-keepers for the upcoming matches and how the team will use their time until the European Championships in Sweden.
DFB.de: Since Saturday your players have been preparing for the match against France in Strasbourg. What are your impressions of the girls?
Silvia Neid: We had some great training units in Frankfurt. Conditions at the Commerzbank-Arena were perfect. As for our game in Strasbourg, I am very optimistic. We analyzed the first match against France in Halle (29.11.2012) and detected that the error rate of our attacking play was too high. That is why we lost possession too frequently and too early, which the French players exploited for their fast breakaways. In defense we were lacking aggression from time to time. That is what we want to improve on Wednesday.
DFB.de: Your philosophy has always been to gradually introduce fresh talent to the team. This squad's average age is 24 years…
Neid: That is right. I think this is the youngest team we ever had. The players are eager to learn and intelligent. I really enjoy being with the team, coaching these guys is a pleasure.
DFB.de: You will rotate your two goalkeepers until the match against the USA in April. Against France, Almuth Schult will keep goal. Why?
Neid: Nadine Angerer still is our number one. But if she gets injured or falls ill at short notice we will need a goalkeeper who knows what she's doing. We want to give Almuth the opportunity to gain practical match experience. We also want to apply that to the other positions. It may well be that we will start games using some of the new girls for us to see how they fare in a competitive environment.
DFB.de: So you'd say Almuth Schult has progressed?
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On Wednesday the German women’s national team plays against France in Strasbourg, a real "acid test" for Germany to kick off their European Championship year. In this interview, Germany head coach Silvia Neid looks ahead to the match against the French team, tipped to be one of the favourites to win the tournament. She explains why she will rotate goal-keepers for the upcoming matches and how the team will use their time until the European Championships in Sweden.
DFB.de: Since Saturday your players have been preparing for the match against France in Strasbourg. What are your impressions of the girls?
Silvia Neid: We had some great training units in Frankfurt. Conditions at the Commerzbank-Arena were perfect. As for our game in Strasbourg, I am very optimistic. We analyzed the first match against France in Halle (29.11.2012) and detected that the error rate of our attacking play was too high. That is why we lost possession too frequently and too early, which the French players exploited for their fast breakaways. In defense we were lacking aggression from time to time. That is what we want to improve on Wednesday.
DFB.de: Your philosophy has always been to gradually introduce fresh talent to the team. This squad's average age is 24 years…
Neid: That is right. I think this is the youngest team we ever had. The players are eager to learn and intelligent. I really enjoy being with the team, coaching these guys is a pleasure.
DFB.de: You will rotate your two goalkeepers until the match against the USA in April. Against France, Almuth Schult will keep goal. Why?
Neid: Nadine Angerer still is our number one. But if she gets injured or falls ill at short notice we will need a goalkeeper who knows what she's doing. We want to give Almuth the opportunity to gain practical match experience. We also want to apply that to the other positions. It may well be that we will start games using some of the new girls for us to see how they fare in a competitive environment.
DFB.de: So you'd say Almuth Schult has progressed?
Neid: Absolutely. She is not as far away from Nadine, as she was one year ago. It is good for her development to play on a high level, like she did last year, for example, when Nadine Angerer was injured and she stood in during the qualification games for the European Championships. It is very important that we develop further and gain experience on all levels.
DFB.de: How has Nadine Angerer taken the news?
Neid: She fully understands our decision, because she knows how important it is for a goalkeeper to have match experience. Both of our goalies get along very well, motivating and pushing each other during practice all the time.
DFB.de: What's on the agenda for the months leading up to EURO 2013?
Neid: After the Algarve Cup in March, we are going to host the USA in Offenbach on 5 April. The direct preparation phase for the European Championships starts on 2June. We will have three training courses, which means that the team will be together for a total of 26 days. Before leaving for Sweden on 7 July, we will have three more test matches - against Scotland, Canada, and Japan.
DFB.de: How many players will be involved in the preparation phase?
Neid: We will be taking 22 field players and four goalkeepers with us and are allowed to nominate 20 players and three goalkeepers for the finals. Those 23 will be taking part in the last of the three courses, from 24 June until 3 July. In other words – the squad that'll face Japan in Munich on 29 June at the Allianz Arena is going to be the one we'll take to Sweden.
