Germany still holding tight at #3 in FIFA's latest rankings. My condolences to Blissett who sees his Italian squad falls an notch, but at least his beloved Nakeshiko's at #13 but don't falter any further) Not so good for Dutch fans as they give away to France for #4 & #5 spots https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/women?dateId=ranking_20211210 Guardians top 100 list is final, just sticking with Europe since we got Euros coming https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...100-best-female-footballers-in-the-world-2021 1. France ....11 players 2. Spain ......10(including 4 in the top ten) 3. Sweden.. 10.(two players higher ranked than any Germans) 4. Germany..10(highest; Magull but tops off at only #26) 5 England....,.9 6 Holland.......5(though Miedema & Martens still in the top 10) case for Germany; pro side; several players went under the raider as Buhl, Brand & current Champions League scoring leader, Wassmuth didn't make the list con side; well...it's coached by MVT!
They've been #2 forever (even when they were wining competitions), and it's meant absolutely nothing... so I doubt being #3 will change anything.
Merry Christmas to the German NT & a present n the form of Jule Brand & her almost like supernatural abilities as shown in these highlgihts guess all the matters now is how much MVT likes playing with your new toy!
With 11 goals in 11 games, Lea Schüller is named the 2021 German women's player of the year... Without a lot of attention, scoring at a rate better/equal to the very best forwards in European football, it feels like Schüller's become one of the elite with very few people seeming to know, or care about her accomplishment lol. So even if I didn't believe she'd be able to take the main strikers role from Popp, she's now has left me with little doubt she's Germany's first choice to lead the attack come the Euro's. And should Schüller finish this season with 20+ league goals, and help her club progress further in the WUCL, it's looking like the Euro's could be the moment people realise Germany has a legit world class goal scorer again...
MVT is asking for UEFA to increase it's squad size quota from 23, to a potential 26 for the Euro finals.... She says this is taking precautions for potential Covid related issues preventing players from taking part once the tournament begin. But I personally feel this is more like MVT trying to find a way to remove the tough task of leaving talented players out of her final squad.... I know Covid has negatively effected the AFC women's tournament happening right now, but I don't see how teams taking 3 extra players helps anything regarding this kind of issue...
Just saw the Arnold Cup roster; strong lineup for mid/fwds including the debut of Selina Cerci while missing usual suspects Marozsan, Knaak, Petermann defense missing Hegering & Maier(an plus in my view) but do have both Doursoon & Feldcamp(both had terrible club matches this last weekend) so only thing that can mess things up now is MVT’s coaching!
Full list.fit for Arnold Cup GK Frohms Berger Schult CB’s; Kleineheme Oberdorf Doursoon Feldcamp FB’s; Rall Rauch Hendrich Gwinn MID’s Dabritz Nuskin Lattwrein Dallmann Magull Dongus WINGERS Buhl Brand Huth Wassmuth Anyomi STRIKERS; Schuller Freigang Cerci
Huth (covid), Schult (quarantine as contact person) and Lattwein (cold) out. Hagel, Tufekovic and Kayikci in.
I figure it be Hagel that will get the nod. Otherwise my next pick would of been Senss(SGS Essen), but MVT needed a more physical player to replace the missing Lattwein(as well as Popp) which is what Hagel fills compared to the more playmaker skills of Senss(which we still got Dabritz, Dallmann & Magull). Kayikici is an surprise as she’s a reminder of a Stefi Jones horrid days as coach. I would of thought either Petermann, Linder, Martinez, Endermann might been better choices for winger , but MVT might of gone with Kayikici due to her way more experience. still surprised that MVT hasn’t reached out to either Wedemeyer, Elsig or even maybe Barth(Potsdam) for extra CB. But 3 out by Sunday, who knows how many more can’t make it by Thursday(or is there an deadline for replacements?)
All of MTV's replacements are GARBAGE! These choices clearly having no vision of the future, or the teams most pressing needs. The same amateurish leadership which allowed Jones to become a scapegoat, are still behind everything we're witnessing right now... I mean... not ONCE has MVT genuinely addressed her teams CB crisis, and started to acknowledge the wider issues of the senior teams now long established flawed grooming process for it's young defensive talents... It's way past incompetence now, and fast on it's way to becoming farce once people see what this looks like at another horror show Euro's finals.
Leaving out Simon, Elsig, and now Wedemeyer, so the wnt can start the constant crisis aka Doorsoun, or continue to give a WSL bench warmer Maier chances to remind us why she's no longer the player she used to be... WTF lol. To anybody not holding onto bias, it's pretty clear watching Hoffenheim play, that Specht a better CB than Feldkamp. While we're in a season Wedemeyer forced a supposedly superior defender like Doorsoun to leave Wolfsburg to find game time lol... Krumbiegel was on Hoffenheim's bench, getting starts for the wnt lol. As Linder being a former CB/FB starter for the Junior wnt's, starts regularly for the same club, but has nothing to show for it. I maintain Steuerwald one of the most impressive defenders in the league this season too. But even if they didn't want to select domestic CB options from mid table clubs, it's sure feels like the idiots leading the wnt are just going pretend Schiemann doesn't exist now, all because she's in America....
It should be obvious to everyone that Leitzig is 100% the senior teams #1 GK before she's 25. And as much as I feel Hagel a player of genuine promise, she really shouldn't be a replacement for Lattwein either. Not when we all know the depth of the player pool in for CM/AM roles. Plus a program with a genuine plan, actively selects Kössler 21, Wieder 20, Corley 19, as young forwards to bring in ahead of a 30yo Kayikci. You can't be watching the league this season as a part of the wnt's analytics department, and not notice Kössler's huge improvement. A wide forward, or playing next to Cerci part of a very potent front two, it's hard to miss Kössler's role in Cerci's continued rise.
OMG now Hendrich & Wassmuth can’t make it do to Covid. Replacements(including for Nusken); Linder, Petzlebeger(Aston Villa) & lil Leo edit; just read Wolfsburg’s Roord, Jansen & Wilms have Covid too(thus will not join the Dutch NT this week)
looking at some of the stats of the newbies Petzleberger(holding mid?) got 1 goal, 1 assist in 935 minutes in 10 starts out of 14 playing for Aston Villa, which is currently in 9th place in the WSL Maier got 1 goal 0 assists in 535 minutes in only 7 starts out of 13 starts for Everton, a club that’s shockingly in relegation/11th place despite a host of well known names on their roster Linder got 2 goals 1 assist in 763 minutes for HOF Hagel got 3 goals 4 assists in 864 minutes for HOF, starting in 10 out of 14 league games, but she’ll be remembered most of those 2 quick goals vs Arsenal it’s fair to say that HOF spends half it’s time passing the ball back to Tufekovic, who might just be the most ‘passed to’ player in the Bundesliga despite just being an goalkeeper! —————————- With two ‘long’ days to go vs an Spain who most likely will start 7-8 Barca players, what will MVT’s lineup be? I’m just predicting what MVT will start(if nobody else cancels due to Covid) Buhl…….Schuller…..Brand ..……..Dallmann ……Dabritz…..Magull Rauch..Kleineheme..Oberdorf..Gwinn .. …….Frohms I venture to guess MVT will play pretty much conservatively, trying to hold on to the ball with an experienced lineup that knows each other(which is exactly Spain’s game plan), so not sure if even Brand will start. Wasn’t impressed with Bayern’s offense the other day vs the underwhelmed Freiburg squad, but MVT probably expects an low scoring game anyways naturally I would prefer a way more physical lineup with the likes of Freigang & Rall, but then they would be playing out of position since the real change needs to be at the 3 central mids(as I cannot imagining Dabritz Dallmann & Magull being physically enough to disrupt the passing flow of Barca’s trio; Putellas Bonmati & Patri. And of course the other scary part; will Oberdorf or Kleineheme go on those solo runs, leaving the other to fend off quick counters by themselves?
Don’t know if it’s news but read on Twitter Wolfsburg just signed the top German goalkeeper as well! They want to win that championship!
Maier... and Ramona Petzelberger.... If players like Elsig, Kössler, Wedemeyer, Weidauer, Steuerwald, are going to be ignored/not selected at this stage, I'd rather MVT no longer waste everyone's time with this nonsense. Linder is the only reasonable replacement selection she'd made here, and I 100% guarantee you it will have the wnt's think tank produce some garbage theory Linder's best role as a forward...
Brand -------------- Schüller ---------------- Bühl ----------------------- Magull ------------------------- -------------- Däbritz ----- Oberdorf --------------- Rauch --- Kleinherne --- Feldkamp ---- Gwinn If there was ever a moment for MVT to finally admit complete failure on this Oberdorf as a CB experiment, it's NOW! With all the absentee's, and the awful replacements, it's only going to be suicide to waste one of Europe's best CM's this season in a CB role; especially when your facing a wnt like Spain, who will always actively seek to use a high press, and dominate ball possession. Even if some remain oblivious to this very obvious fact, Oberdorf has been a genuine monster this season; producing some of the wildest CM stats in European football (on the most successful dribbles list), while playing in a DM role for her club. If MVT still can't identify the damage she's doing to one of her own/Europe's best players... and Germany's performances produce more confusing, and listless results, I really don't want to hear ANY excuses.
Germany don't have to win any games in this mini event to have a good Euro's run. But MVT's had enough time with this team now, and to this day I don't think we've seen enough to suggest the wnt on a path back to success... So win or lose, for me there at least needs to be CLEAR evidence of a defined game plan, tactical adaptation, with genuine understanding of player analysis on show too. And I'm not personally tolerating anymore excuses for disappointing performances, on the back of these growing Covid related absentees.
from another statement I read from a few days ago, something about that Oberdorf & Rauch were tested negative for Covid(so an good thing) but remain in isolation so not even sure if they can compete yet/or at least vs Spain. Maybe Lohmann knows more info on that situation?/ no new updates as of yet today from the DBF Facebook page(where I get my info from) I guess MVT has her excuse now if she flops badly(but let’s remember Stefi Jones did get fired after loosing to France with an hefty score line, 0-3). I was kinda of hoping Brand would be kept under wraps till the Euros(I mean play her a few sub minutes at this Arnold Cup), but now word has come out that Chelsea did offer her an substantial contract(before she decided to sign with Wolfsburg instead). So yeah, everybody already knows on her as an potential future superstar that’s Merle Frohms, she’s currently at Frankfurt, plus MVT’s fav at starting NT. Her style kinda reminds me of Hope Solo as she’ll try to make any soft shot into an spectacular, flying leap save. So not sure if she’s really Germany’s safest or best GK
Oberdorf and Rauch were in isolation as contact persons of Wolfsburg teammates that were tested positive but after negative PCR-tests they were allowed to travel. There is no reason why they shouldn`t play against Spain.
I’m really not good in judging GK’s. For instance Batfink mentioned Leitzig, but she had to make zero saves in her last game for Bayern vs helpless Freiburg(so how can I judge her performance?) I’m not mad at Wolfsburg or Bayern for wanting to recruit the best players around, just disappointed that the other 10 Bundi clubs don’t want to step up, financial wise & counter those two clubs & keep their players especially now when there’s that extra incentive for an third league club will make into the Champions League(both 3rd & 4th place HOF & Frankfurt are giving up heir most popular player in Brand & Frohms).
looks like no new Covid cases reported. My busy schedule prevents me from watching the Spain match in real time, but if it’s geo blocked, I read this site is where you can watch if FA player(just google search) no fee or spam involved but you got to register from viewing some of the action yesterday; Germany’s upcoming Euro/group; Finland got destroyed by France 5-0, Denmark lost to Italy 1-0. From watching the Danes play; while they were missing Harder & Nadim, it felt like they just don’t go deep enough for anybody to take their place. Twice they got behind Italy’s defense, only to flub their final shot(both should of been for sure goals). And then interesting enough, it was Svava that was their main creative force(yet the same Svava that flopped at Wolfsburg) another interesting match; #10 ranked Norway loosing to Portugal, 2-0. Here again shows an squad that they just don’t go deep enough if their two main stars were missing(Hansen & Hegerberg). Meantime it’s fair to say ‘direct soccer’ has finally arrived in Europe!(or what was I watching the last 20 minutes of the game?)/Jessica Silva’s speed was phenomenal in this one. But Germany’s 3-1 win over Portugal then does seem impressive in comparison(though Silva did get the PK call in that one) and finally poor Dutch, as Miedema & Groenen have apparently lost their mojo for good(Miedema hasn’t scored in ages:Groenen don’t even start for Man U anymore) But luckily saved from defeat by……Beerensteyn(of all people!)