Sara Däbritz has been named the winner of the Germany women’s national team’s “2016 goal of the year”. Her curling effort with the outside of the boot against Australia at the Olympic Games was voted the best goal of the year by DFB fans. Alexandra Popp and Melanie Behringer were runners-up in the vote.
”I’m very proud because the award was voted for by our fans,” said Däbritz. In an interview with DFB.de, the 21-year-old FC Bayern midfielder looks back on an eventful 2016 and looks ahead to the second half of the season, including the Bundesliga, DFB-Cup, Champions League, as well as the European Championships in the Netherlands.
DFB.de: Sara Däbritz, your goal against Australia at the Olympics has been voted the “women’s national team goal of the year”…
Sara Däbritz: and I’m delighted about it! It was a great goal, but it was a very important goal as we were trailing Australia by two goals to nil. I managed to get a goal back just before half time. That gave us the confidence we needed going into the break and we were then able to make it 2-2 in the second half.
DFB.de It was a wonderful goal with the outside of your boot.
Däbritz: Yeah I connected really well with it. It was definitely one of the best goals of my career. The fans chose well. (laughs) It’s a great award to win because it came from the fans.
DFB.de The goal came in the Olympic Games where you went on to win the gold medal. Was that one of your best moments to date?
Däbritz: Of course, it’s hard to beat that. It was a dream come true for me. I am unbelievably proud that I could make a good contribution to the success. It’s an experience I won’t forget. However, this isn’t the time to look back. At the moment, we are in the middle of our preparations for the second half of the season in the Allianz Frauen-Bundesliga. There are some exciting times ahead for us.
DFB.de With FC Bayern, you are currently five points behind league leaders Turbine Potsdam. Will that be tricky to overcome?
Däbritz: No, I don’t see it like that. We are not unhappy with our first half of the season. I think you also have to acknowledge that Potsdam have done extremely well, with ten wins and just one defeat so far. But everything is still up for grabs. I am interested to see if Turbine can carry on with that level of consistency. If they can’t, then we have to take advantage. We are still in three competitions and have good chances of success in all of them. We are in a good place.
DFB.de Looking at the table, FC Bayern have scored just 15 goals in eleven games in the league. Is that a problem?
Däbritz: We have won a lot of our games with a 1-0 scoreline. We could have scored a lot more goals, given the chances we created. We are working hard on becoming more clinical. But I also think that winning games by one goal to nil is also a good quality to have. You still pick up three points whether you win 1-0 or 6-0 and that is all that counts in the end.
Sara Däbritz has been named the winner of the Germany women’s national team’s “2016 goal of the year”. Her curling effort with the outside of the boot against Australia at the Olympic Games was voted the best goal of the year by DFB fans. Alexandra Popp and Melanie Behringer were runners-up in the vote.
”I’m very proud because the award was voted for by our fans,” said Däbritz. In an interview with DFB.de, the 21-year-old FC Bayern midfielder looks back on an eventful 2016 and looks ahead to the second half of the season, including the Bundesliga, DFB-Cup, Champions League, as well as the European Championships in the Netherlands.
DFB.de: Sara Däbritz, your goal against Australia at the Olympics has been voted the “women’s national team goal of the year”…
Sara Däbritz: and I’m delighted about it! It was a great goal, but it was a very important goal as we were trailing Australia by two goals to nil. I managed to get a goal back just before half time. That gave us the confidence we needed going into the break and we were then able to make it 2-2 in the second half.
DFB.de It was a wonderful goal with the outside of your boot.
Däbritz: Yeah I connected really well with it. It was definitely one of the best goals of my career. The fans chose well. (laughs) It’s a great award to win because it came from the fans.
DFB.de The goal came in the Olympic Games where you went on to win the gold medal. Was that one of your best moments to date?
Däbritz: Of course, it’s hard to beat that. It was a dream come true for me. I am unbelievably proud that I could make a good contribution to the success. It’s an experience I won’t forget. However, this isn’t the time to look back. At the moment, we are in the middle of our preparations for the second half of the season in the Allianz Frauen-Bundesliga. There are some exciting times ahead for us.
DFB.de With FC Bayern, you are currently five points behind league leaders Turbine Potsdam. Will that be tricky to overcome?
Däbritz: No, I don’t see it like that. We are not unhappy with our first half of the season. I think you also have to acknowledge that Potsdam have done extremely well, with ten wins and just one defeat so far. But everything is still up for grabs. I am interested to see if Turbine can carry on with that level of consistency. If they can’t, then we have to take advantage. We are still in three competitions and have good chances of success in all of them. We are in a good place.
DFB.de Looking at the table, FC Bayern have scored just 15 goals in eleven games in the league. Is that a problem?
Däbritz: We have won a lot of our games with a 1-0 scoreline. We could have scored a lot more goals, given the chances we created. We are working hard on becoming more clinical. But I also think that winning games by one goal to nil is also a good quality to have. You still pick up three points whether you win 1-0 or 6-0 and that is all that counts in the end.
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DFB.de: Do the close results show the competitiveness in the Frauen-Bundesliga?
Däbritz: Yes, definitely. No game in the first half of the season was a certainty and we all had to work very hard. Logically, too, that every side is extra motivated to play against us.
DFB.de: Is that because they are playing FC Bayern?
Däbritz: Among other reasons. Also because we are the current reigning champions, and hence everyone wants to get one over on us. It makes things difficult but that is also what makes it such an appealing challenge.
DFB.de: You have made the quarter finals of both the DFB Cup and the Champions League, and in the latter you will face Paris St. Germain. How far can you go in these competitions?
Däbritz: After we were unfortunately knocked out of the Champions League in the first round last season we have made steps forward. Both competitions are important for us and we want to win as much as we possibly can. PSG are of course a strong opponent but are certainly in with a good chance. In the DFB Cup, we have to wait for the draw. I have never played at the final in Cologne and that is something I want to change.
DFB.de: There is another notable event on the calendar in the summer with the European Championships in the Netherlands. What are you aiming to get from the tournament?
Däbritz: The answer to that is similar to the last one. We are defending our title und I am excited about the chance we have to be European Champions again. However, what we have already done does not matter – we have to play each game as it comes, however clichéd that is, and that is how we approached the previous rounds.
DFB.de: You will have to meet Sweden, Italy and Russia in the next round…
Däbritz: We played Sweden in the Olympic final. We faced Russia in qualification. Italy are a bit of an unknown quantity for me. Essentially, though, they are three nations that we expect will give us a good game in a clashing style and not make things easy for us.
DFB.de: There has been a lot of upheaval in the national team setup. A few of the older players have retired, and do you feel that has made you more focused?
Däbritz: I will of course look to take on more responsibility. We have a number of younger players who have a lot of quality and we have to now work towards becoming a strong team and unit. We are on a good path at the moment.
