Silvia Neid: "We played our hearts out for this title"

With immense joy and immeasurable pride, Silvia Neid led a significantly rejuvenated German women’s national football team to their eighth UEFA Women’s European Championship title in Sweden. A 1-0 win over Norway in the final gave Germany their sixth European title in a row and their eighth overall. What’s more, Neid has been involved in all of them, either as a player or as part of the coaching staff.

After this historic victory, the national coach spoke with Sven Winterschladen for the DFB.de Interview of the Week about the title triumph, winning goalscorer Anja Mittag, penalty heroine Nadine Angerer and the significance of winning this tournament.

DFB.de: Ms. Neid, how important is this title for you? After all, it’s already your eighth European Championship win.

Silvia Neid: Right now, it’s definitely the best title yet, simply because it’s all still so fresh in my mind, but also because it was a very even game and an extremely difficult final. 1989 was also great, for example, because that win started it all, but this European Championship will always have a special place in my memory, because many of our young players couldn’t have possibly imagined it would happen. We were dealt so many blows with the withdrawal of six players, but we’ve become a genuine unit, and that was so impressive. We played our hearts out for this title.

DFB.de: What was your experience of the past few weeks?

Neid: It was such an intense time, but now I just feel good, not exhausted at all. I get the impression that the tournament and working with the young players has made me ten years younger. We’ll see whether that’s the case after the next few days of celebrations. (laughs) At the moment we’re just enjoying this historic moment. We’re over the moon to have managed it again.

DFB.de: Is there also a certain amount of satisfaction for you?

Neid: I just feel delighted and happy. I’m proud of every single player, and I can only reiterate that.

DFB.de: Have you always dreamed about this title?

Neid: To be completely honest, it didn’t look like we could do it at the outset. We didn’t begin the tournament well. First we had a rough start with the draw against the Netherlands. Then we won with a fine performance against Iceland, and performed poorly against Norway to complete the opening rounds. But then we really dug deep. The team recovered with the 1-0 win against Italy in the quarter-final. Things started going well, and got better with each match we played. I’m extremely happy and proud that we won with this young team; I can’t say it often enough.

DFB.de: Why did things improve from the quarter-final onwards?

Neid: We’d warmed up by this point and were into the swing of things in the tournament. Our tackling improved significantly, as did our defending. We also created clearer chances going forward. It was just such fun to see this talented team take shape over the course of a tournament and to have an influence on it.

DFB.de: Will this process of development continue?

Neid: Of course. The young players are nowhere near finished yet. The events of the past few days alone will give them a fresh boost, as well as everything yet to come. I think they’ve got great prospects, but first we have to digest everything.

DFB.de: What sets these young players apart?

Neid: They’re a breath of fresh air. They’ve great character and a fantastic attitude. They pushed themselves to the limit with complete dedication, passion and courage. That was amazing.

DFB.de: Was it a difficult decision to start Anja Mittag on the bench for the final against Norway after her strong performance against Sweden?

Neid: It was clear that she would play a part in the match in any case, and we discussed as much beforehand. Her self-assurance gave us a lot of momentum, particularly down the wing. At half time, our plan was to push up with more commitment and win more tackles. We hoped we could do that with Anja Mittag, so for that plan to work so quickly was even better. It’s almost beyond belief that she scored with almost her first touch after being brought on; it was a great attacking move.

DFB.de: Has Anja Mittag taken another step forward?

Neid: Definitely. I think she has benefited from her move to the Swedish league. She wasn’t voted player of the season there for nothing. She’s developed very well and plays with much more confidence, which is surely down to the fact that she is one of the most important players in Malmö. Moreover, she scores a lot of goals in Sweden. That does her good and has enabled her to develop, and we’ve seen that very clearly for her country too. She’s in good shape, so she is very important for the German team.

DFB.de: The team that scores first in the final has always gone on to win the tournament. Were you aware of that after Anja Mittag scored?

Neid: I knew that statistic, but at that point I wasn’t thinking about it. I was far too focused on the match.

DFB.de: How did you feel watching the two penalties against your team?

Neid: That was intense, but luckily we had Nadine Angerer in goal. It’s quite clear to see that she has absolutely no intention of conceding any goals. She showed that from start to finish. Those two penalty saves definitely made us stronger mentally. The Norwegians had problems coping with those setbacks.

DFB.de: How do you rate the overall performance of your captain, Angerer?

Neid: She played at an extremely high level for the entire tournament – the final was just the culmination of this. She proved her class once again and was a fantastic leader.