Silvia Neid: "It'll be hard to beat us"

A trophy and plenty of valuable insight – that's what German women's national team head coach Silvia Neid has brought home from the Algarve Cup in Portugal. Winning the competition for the second time since 2006, the team has not only received accolades for sporting success; Neid's players have also shown their critics – who slated them in the wake of Germany's untimely exit from the World Cup 2011 against later tournament winners Japan – that they can still deliver, and against top opposition at that.

Small wonder, then, that Silvia Neid was still smiling when, shortly before returning to Germany, she met DFB.de's women's football expert Niels Barnhofer to discuss the story so far and look ahead to what's in store for 2012.

DFB.de: Silvia, congrats on winning the Algarve Cup! Did you like what you saw?

Silvia Neid: Yes, absolutely! I'd even say it's blown my expectations. If, pre-tournament, someone had told me we'd perform like this, I'd just have shaken my head in disbelief.

DFB.de: How important is this trophy to you?

Neid: Well, let's say that winning the Algarve Cup is a lovely achievement, really nice, and obviously, beating world champions Japan and third-placed Sweden has worked wonders for our self-esteem.

DFB.de: You make it sound like there's a "but" coming…

Neid: Yes! Because when we arrived in Portugal, we said that results were not the be-all and end-all. So it would be wrong for me to ever-so-proudly point at results and first places when taking stock of our time here. The key mission was to use the tournament to try out new things, find answers to a whole lot of questions. And that's what we did.

DFB.de: Such as?

Neid: Please understand that I can't go into much detail. Generally speaking, we wanted to see where we stood in terms of ability and performance, and it was great to watch the team go from strength to strength, with many new players making a huge step forward in their development.

DFB.de: But can you name a few names?

Neid: Sure! Just look at the long list of players we couldn't use for various reasons – Kim Kulig, Simone Laudehr, Inka Grings, Martina Müller, and Tabea Kemme weren't even part of the squad, and no sooner had we arrived than Nadine Angerer and Lira Bajramaj injured themselves, too! The fact that for certain periods even Bianca Schmidt, Dzsenifer Marozszan, and Linda Bresonik were unavailable meant that other players were given a chance to step forward and assume responsibility. Melanie Behringer, for example, was a great team captain. Viola Odebrecht is in top physical condition and turned out a fantastic holding mid-fielder to the point of being pivotal for our game. And last but definitely not least, there's Célia Okoyino da Mbabi, whose tally of three goals each against Sweden and Japan speaks for itself.

DFB.de: What about the younger players?

Neid: We made sure that everybody in the squad got as much playing time as possible, and for all the substitutions we made, the level of performance never dropped. That augurs well for the future, doesn't it? For example, we've literally thrown young Lena Lotzen in at the deep end, for her to get a feeling of what's required at this level. Luisa Wensing made her debut, Svenja Huth and Dzsenifer Marozszan could add to their experience, and Almuth Schult and Josephine Henning played four full matches! I think they all take something very positive away from this tournament.

DFB.de: In all four games, Josephine Henning and Annike Krahn teamed up as centre backs; is this any indication of things to come for the match against Spain on 31 March?

Neid: Well, the Algarve Cup served as a kind of dress rehearsal to try out various options. We know how valuable Annike Krahn is, and it was great to see how well Josephine Henning coped playing against the most different opponents. But there are three weeks to go before the game against Spain. Let's just wait and see who's available then.

DFB.de: Can you comment on Saskia Bartusiak's role?

Neid: She knew that at this tournament, she'd have to play girl Friday, as it were, 'cause she'll have to serve that one-match suspension against Spain. And she was brilliant, filling gaps and playing other positions when others needed a break – an example of professionalism throughout.

DFB.de: In three of the four matches, Germany did not concede a single goal…

Neid: That's correct, and this is in no small part thanks to Viola Odebrecht and Lena Goessling, who've done themselves proud, standing in for our World Cup 2011 duo of Kim Kulig and Simone Laudehr.

DFB.de: Would you say your team is ready for the match against Spain?

Neid: If I could have my way, we'd play them tomorrow, if only to stick to our rhythm of playing a match every other day (laughs). But joking apart – if we manage to play as well as we did at the Algarve Cup, it'll be hard to beat us. I hope we'll approach the Spain match with the same sort of focus and determination. We'd love to qualify for EURO 2013 as group leaders, because that would present us, in October 2012, with another two friendly match fixtures that we'd use to play against high-calibre opposition.

DFB.de: To conclude, let's just look at those Algarve Cup results again. Don't they prove Germany are still up there with the best of them?

Neid: Yes, that's what I meant by saying that winning the tournament was great for our self-confidence. But don't forget we always expect a lot from ourselves, trying to win every game. And that's not likely to change anytime soon!