Ten months after tearing her cruciate ligament, Saskia Bartusiak is back in the German women’s national team. Manager Silvia Neid included the 32 year old in her squad of 26 squad for the home match against Brazil on 8th April (18:00 CET) in Fürth. The 1. FFC Frankfurt defender was with the squad in Marbella in February and for the Algarve Cup at the beginning of March, where she continued her rehab work and trained individually. Now for the first time she is officially back in the squad.
Silvia Neid admitted, “we’re delighted with the progress Saskia has made. She is a very important player for us with her experience and abilities. She’s a true leader too.” As well as Bartusiak, Josephine Henning, Bianca Schmidt, Melanie Behringer and Pauline Bremer are also back in the squad, after they were missing from the Algarve Cup with injuries.
Neid wants to “build on the good performance against Brazil at the Algarve Cup“
The match against Brazil will serve as an important test of character ahead of the summer’s World Cup in Canada (6th June-5th July). The two sides recently met at the Algarve Cup where a solid Germany won 3-1.
Neid had this to say about the Brazillians: "They are a technically a very skilful team, who you cannot allow too much room, otherwise they will tear you apart. We want to build on the good performance against them in the Algarve Cup, but we know we know we have to give everything against a world class team. The match in Fürth is another challenge for us and it’s exactly the sort of preparation we need for the World Cup.”
The main preparations for the World Cup will start on the 18th May and they will travel to Canada on the 31st of May. Germany will play their first game of the tournament against Ivory Coast on 7th June (22:00 CEST) in Ottawa. On the 11th they will face Norway in the same ground (22:00 CEST) and in their last game of the group stage they will face Thailand on 15th June in Winnipeg (22:00 CEST).