Just one day remains before the Germany women’s national team takes on Morocco in their first World Cup fixture, on Monday (10:30 CEST). Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and goalkeeper Merle Frohms spoke to DFB.de ahead of the game, on their upcoming north African opponents, pre-tournament excitement and more.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on…
… the World Cup games so far: Looking at these first few games, you can see that the competition has started just as we expected – the teams at the top are much more closely matched. The matches are all pretty close in general, and there’s only been one big scoreline. All the teams have the quality to cause every other team problems. That will be the case tomorrow against Morocco too.
… what to expect from Morocco: We’re expecting an opponent who are tough to break down. Morocco have developed very well over the last two years – you can see that they’ve made steps forward, both as a team and as individual players. They will play with passion, they can defend, and they’ll try and convert their set pieces. We know there are no foregone conclusions at a World Cup. You need a good balance of patience and attacking venom. We also know that we’re going up against an opponent who don’t just play for footballing success, but also to create landmarks in the Arab world. We’ve already seen Morocco’s national pride, and we know that this pride, joy, mentality and also footballing quality will come to the fore. We think we’re well-prepared – we’ve settled in well here in Australia and we’ve put the long journey and jet lag behind us. I’ve got huge trust in the players and the coaching staff. I’m expecting a close game, but we want to win.
… the Germany team’s own strengths: I hope that we show what we’ve already shown over the last year: that we want to play aggressive, intense and attractive football, and that we press high and believe in ourselves. We want to do all we can to play active football. We have good depth of quality in our squad. We’ll only be successful if we get the chances to be active and keep our quality consistent. We’ve prepared for everything, and that should be a big strength of this squad.
… hope for a new wave of support for the team: Of course, that has a lot to do with ourselves, and we’re aware of our responsibility. We’ll try to put as good a performance as we can on the pitch, and we’ll give our all to bring the fans along with us. We want to make the fans emotionally connect to our football – we want to bring them joy, even in times where not everything’s going so well. If we can make people smile, and if we create icons and show the world our values – because we’re ready to push the envelope in all areas – we’ll be doing well.
… 24th player, Janina Minge: We’ve got one more training session. If nothing untoward happens, Janina will travel home to Germany the day after the game, as we discussed before.
Merle Frohms on…
… communication with her defence: Communication is obviously very important on the pitch, to take on responsibility and provide a sense of security to your teammates, no matter who’s on the pitch. I have no doubts that we’re all concentrated and ready to get stuck into the first group stage game tomorrow.
… balancing excitement and nerves: It’s a real mix of both. Of course, we’re delighted to finally get our World Cup campaign underway. You start to get slightly shaky too, because you’re desperate to get onto the pitch yourself. Every minute closer the game gets, the excitement gets bigger, because we all know how important the tournament is for every single player.
… her first World Cup game: I was just delighted to be there in 2019, but to be out on the pitch and influencing the game myself is even cooler. I’m so proud to be able to represent my country as the number one. Tomorrow will be a very special moment for me, when we stand out on the pitch and the national anthem plays. It’s never expected for you to go to a World Cup. My family will watch all the games from home, but sadly they won’t be here in Australia.
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Just one day remains before the Germany women’s national team takes on Morocco in their first World Cup fixture, on Monday (10:30 CEST). Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and goalkeeper Merle Frohms spoke to DFB.de ahead of the game, on their upcoming north African opponents, pre-tournament excitement and more.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on…
… the World Cup games so far: Looking at these first few games, you can see that the competition has started just as we expected – the teams at the top are much more closely matched. The matches are all pretty close in general, and there’s only been one big scoreline. All the teams have the quality to cause every other team problems. That will be the case tomorrow against Morocco too.
… what to expect from Morocco: We’re expecting an opponent who are tough to break down. Morocco have developed very well over the last two years – you can see that they’ve made steps forward, both as a team and as individual players. They will play with passion, they can defend, and they’ll try and convert their set pieces. We know there are no foregone conclusions at a World Cup. You need a good balance of patience and attacking venom. We also know that we’re going up against an opponent who don’t just play for footballing success, but also to create landmarks in the Arab world. We’ve already seen Morocco’s national pride, and we know that this pride, joy, mentality and also footballing quality will come to the fore. We think we’re well-prepared – we’ve settled in well here in Australia and we’ve put the long journey and jet lag behind us. I’ve got huge trust in the players and the coaching staff. I’m expecting a close game, but we want to win.
… the Germany team’s own strengths: I hope that we show what we’ve already shown over the last year: that we want to play aggressive, intense and attractive football, and that we press high and believe in ourselves. We want to do all we can to play active football. We have good depth of quality in our squad. We’ll only be successful if we get the chances to be active and keep our quality consistent. We’ve prepared for everything, and that should be a big strength of this squad.
… hope for a new wave of support for the team: Of course, that has a lot to do with ourselves, and we’re aware of our responsibility. We’ll try to put as good a performance as we can on the pitch, and we’ll give our all to bring the fans along with us. We want to make the fans emotionally connect to our football – we want to bring them joy, even in times where not everything’s going so well. If we can make people smile, and if we create icons and show the world our values – because we’re ready to push the envelope in all areas – we’ll be doing well.
… 24th player, Janina Minge: We’ve got one more training session. If nothing untoward happens, Janina will travel home to Germany the day after the game, as we discussed before.
Merle Frohms on…
… communication with her defence: Communication is obviously very important on the pitch, to take on responsibility and provide a sense of security to your teammates, no matter who’s on the pitch. I have no doubts that we’re all concentrated and ready to get stuck into the first group stage game tomorrow.
… balancing excitement and nerves: It’s a real mix of both. Of course, we’re delighted to finally get our World Cup campaign underway. You start to get slightly shaky too, because you’re desperate to get onto the pitch yourself. Every minute closer the game gets, the excitement gets bigger, because we all know how important the tournament is for every single player.
… her first World Cup game: I was just delighted to be there in 2019, but to be out on the pitch and influencing the game myself is even cooler. I’m so proud to be able to represent my country as the number one. Tomorrow will be a very special moment for me, when we stand out on the pitch and the national anthem plays. It’s never expected for you to go to a World Cup. My family will watch all the games from home, but sadly they won’t be here in Australia.
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