In their closing press conference at the Women’s World Cup, head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and sporting director of the national teams Joti Chatzialexiou reflected on the tournament in Australia and New Zealand and spoke about the reasons for Germany’s early exit, their future and areas to work up on. DFB.de was there.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on...
...her future: I’m staying tough and staying strong. The easiest thing in life is to run away when things get difficult. I have never run away. I still have the strong will to take the next steps in German women’s football together with everyone involved.
...the reaction to the early exit: Straight after the game, everyone had to deal with the state of shock, the feelings and emotions. That much is clear. Afterwards, the team had their first conversations about it amongst themselves. There was an incredible amount of support and feedback from the fans. I now see the players in a state of togetherness. There were good discussions yesterday, which is needed after such a failure.
...the analysis: We’ve repeatedly emphasised that we will assess everything and look objectively at the issues we had. We even did that after the success at the Euros; we looked into the things that went well there and where we could improve. We are a long way away from saying ‘Keep at it’. It’s a constant process of development and a constant undertaking. If you set high targets, you can fall a long way. Everyone here worked 24 hours a day to ensure sporting success under our parameters.
...returning to the world elite and dealing with pressure situations: I think that only comes with experience. The process of why maybe in certain situations you’re not in a position to achieve your optimal performance is something that you have to learn in a tournament under extreme circumstances. It plays out in your subconscious. Dealing with the pressure of losing triggers something and when we set high targets, that’s something that requires a certain mental state. You could switch that around and just set low targets to relieve the pressure. But it wouldn’t have been realistic if we’d just said, “We’ll see if we get out of the group”. These are processes that we live through in order to make the next steps. The experiences that we’re having now are hard, but they’re only natural in bringing us forward. We have to use them to bring better results in the future and to be able to deal better with pressure situations.
...her decision-making: Questioning decisions is an essential part of it. What you don’t get in football is a definitive answer. When I make a decision, I don’t know whether a different decision would have worked better, whether it would have changed the result. Because of this, I have to stand by my decisions and always be able to explain them too. Our decisions are always for and never against any one person.
…the camp: What I can say about Wyong is that we checked everything out, made detailed notes and weighed up the pros and cons. Over the course of the process, we sat down with many parties and came to a decision that we thought would be best for us. We were near the training pitch and had a lot of space in the accommodation without having to stay in big hotels. We’ll keep backing this decision and factor our experience into future judgements.
…the impact of the World Cup exit on the perception of the team: My gut tells me that it hasn’t had an impact on the things we’ve been aiming towards. I sense that the fans have a mentality of “Now more than ever”. Things are easy when you’re winning. When you’re losing, you have to stick to your guns.
Joti Chatzialexiou on…
…the team: I see a team that is very well-established. Following the initial disappointment and despair, I noticed while chatting with individual players that they had the right attitude. They were very critical of their performances, but they also wanted to look towards the future and turn things around together. That shows what the morale in the camp is like.
…moving forward: Over the next few days, we’ll conduct an extensive analysis. We’ll see what steps we need to take in future to avoid something like this happening again.
…the Nations League and the Olympics: I’ve already been to the Olympics before. It’s a great tournament and it’s fantastic to match up against a lot of other athletes in a competition which is of special importance. We’re definitely aspiring for success at the Olympics, since it’s important that we start looking towards the future again. After a disappointment like this, we need to show that we want to put things right. In the Nations League, every game counts. It’s tricky to find a balance because we want to be sensible as far as calling people up for the national team is concerned. We’ll deal with that in the analysis.
...the fallout from the World Cup exit: A tournament like this is always a great opportunity for role models to establish themselves. We’ve received a lot of kind messages. Every tournament is different - you can’t compare them. At the Euros, we weren’t embarrassed, because nobody expected us to do so well. Now, the reaction to the team is different. We’ve got to learn to deal with that before the next tournament.
...a strong national team: You’ve got to work together if you want to have a strong national team. We’re reliant on the domestic teams, to a certain extent. It’s all about trusting one another, which is very important in a situation like this.
...the development of young talent: We’ve set up “Project Future” because we’ve noticed and continue to notice a need for improvement. We weren’t very well equipped as far as the transition from youth to senior level is concerned. In the last few years, we’ve upgraded our coaching staff, introduced a full-time employment scheme and, from next season, we’ll have a permanent U20s team. We’ve adapted the structure of the Women’s U17s Bundesliga, because up to this point, it hasn’t been ideal for the development of top players. It’s also true that, in Germany, it takes too long for things to get done. In countries like Switzerland, communication pathways and decision-making processes are simpler from a sporting point of view. Sporting politics also have less influence. At the end of the day, it comes down to content, and unfortunately, we’ve felt that hasn’t been the case on occasion. So, it’s important that we establish good and, above all, professional, structures in the Women’s Bundesliga.
...quality and mentality: As a football nation, we have high hopes. In the future, we want to have such a solid youth training programme that we’ll have enough depth to be competitive in tournaments. It was in our DNA, that’s how we won games. Some of our players have this gene, but we need it as a collective. We’ve got to address issues as far as the development of character is concerned. I think that character can be a decisive factor.
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In their closing press conference at the Women’s World Cup, head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and sporting director of the national teams Joti Chatzialexiou reflected on the tournament in Australia and New Zealand and spoke about the reasons for Germany’s early exit, their future and areas to work up on. DFB.de was there.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on...
...her future: I’m staying tough and staying strong. The easiest thing in life is to run away when things get difficult. I have never run away. I still have the strong will to take the next steps in German women’s football together with everyone involved.
...the reaction to the early exit: Straight after the game, everyone had to deal with the state of shock, the feelings and emotions. That much is clear. Afterwards, the team had their first conversations about it amongst themselves. There was an incredible amount of support and feedback from the fans. I now see the players in a state of togetherness. There were good discussions yesterday, which is needed after such a failure.
...the analysis: We’ve repeatedly emphasised that we will assess everything and look objectively at the issues we had. We even did that after the success at the Euros; we looked into the things that went well there and where we could improve. We are a long way away from saying ‘Keep at it’. It’s a constant process of development and a constant undertaking. If you set high targets, you can fall a long way. Everyone here worked 24 hours a day to ensure sporting success under our parameters.
...returning to the world elite and dealing with pressure situations: I think that only comes with experience. The process of why maybe in certain situations you’re not in a position to achieve your optimal performance is something that you have to learn in a tournament under extreme circumstances. It plays out in your subconscious. Dealing with the pressure of losing triggers something and when we set high targets, that’s something that requires a certain mental state. You could switch that around and just set low targets to relieve the pressure. But it wouldn’t have been realistic if we’d just said, “We’ll see if we get out of the group”. These are processes that we live through in order to make the next steps. The experiences that we’re having now are hard, but they’re only natural in bringing us forward. We have to use them to bring better results in the future and to be able to deal better with pressure situations.
...her decision-making: Questioning decisions is an essential part of it. What you don’t get in football is a definitive answer. When I make a decision, I don’t know whether a different decision would have worked better, whether it would have changed the result. Because of this, I have to stand by my decisions and always be able to explain them too. Our decisions are always for and never against any one person.
…the camp: What I can say about Wyong is that we checked everything out, made detailed notes and weighed up the pros and cons. Over the course of the process, we sat down with many parties and came to a decision that we thought would be best for us. We were near the training pitch and had a lot of space in the accommodation without having to stay in big hotels. We’ll keep backing this decision and factor our experience into future judgements.
…the impact of the World Cup exit on the perception of the team: My gut tells me that it hasn’t had an impact on the things we’ve been aiming towards. I sense that the fans have a mentality of “Now more than ever”. Things are easy when you’re winning. When you’re losing, you have to stick to your guns.
Joti Chatzialexiou on…
…the team: I see a team that is very well-established. Following the initial disappointment and despair, I noticed while chatting with individual players that they had the right attitude. They were very critical of their performances, but they also wanted to look towards the future and turn things around together. That shows what the morale in the camp is like.
…moving forward: Over the next few days, we’ll conduct an extensive analysis. We’ll see what steps we need to take in future to avoid something like this happening again.
…the Nations League and the Olympics: I’ve already been to the Olympics before. It’s a great tournament and it’s fantastic to match up against a lot of other athletes in a competition which is of special importance. We’re definitely aspiring for success at the Olympics, since it’s important that we start looking towards the future again. After a disappointment like this, we need to show that we want to put things right. In the Nations League, every game counts. It’s tricky to find a balance because we want to be sensible as far as calling people up for the national team is concerned. We’ll deal with that in the analysis.
...the fallout from the World Cup exit: A tournament like this is always a great opportunity for role models to establish themselves. We’ve received a lot of kind messages. Every tournament is different - you can’t compare them. At the Euros, we weren’t embarrassed, because nobody expected us to do so well. Now, the reaction to the team is different. We’ve got to learn to deal with that before the next tournament.
...a strong national team: You’ve got to work together if you want to have a strong national team. We’re reliant on the domestic teams, to a certain extent. It’s all about trusting one another, which is very important in a situation like this.
...the development of young talent: We’ve set up “Project Future” because we’ve noticed and continue to notice a need for improvement. We weren’t very well equipped as far as the transition from youth to senior level is concerned. In the last few years, we’ve upgraded our coaching staff, introduced a full-time employment scheme and, from next season, we’ll have a permanent U20s team. We’ve adapted the structure of the Women’s U17s Bundesliga, because up to this point, it hasn’t been ideal for the development of top players. It’s also true that, in Germany, it takes too long for things to get done. In countries like Switzerland, communication pathways and decision-making processes are simpler from a sporting point of view. Sporting politics also have less influence. At the end of the day, it comes down to content, and unfortunately, we’ve felt that hasn’t been the case on occasion. So, it’s important that we establish good and, above all, professional, structures in the Women’s Bundesliga.
...quality and mentality: As a football nation, we have high hopes. In the future, we want to have such a solid youth training programme that we’ll have enough depth to be competitive in tournaments. It was in our DNA, that’s how we won games. Some of our players have this gene, but we need it as a collective. We’ve got to address issues as far as the development of character is concerned. I think that character can be a decisive factor.
