German Fraulein National Team 2020 & beyond

Maybe he's senile, I don't know. I mean he put Oberdorf as CB against Austria...

 

USA vs Mexico 1:0


Australia vs Canada 1:2


New Zealand vs Zambia 1:1


Iceland vs Germany 3:0


Austria vs Poland 3:1

 

The decision to take 4 CB's to the Olympics might speak directly to your questions concerning the decision making of Hrubesch...

But again, something is very strange about this, as there's no reason for him to constantly jump between formations, when it's so been obvious for a long time now the 4-2-4/4-4-2 doesn't facilitate this group of players producing winning football.

 

Between post match talk about a 3-0 defeat to Iceland being a "wake up call"..., and seeing reports of Hrubesch saying Popp won't be able to play 90 mins during the Olympics, I'm thinking the Wück-Meinert era can't start soon enough...

The next match being a zero stakes contest Vs Austria, about to be played in front of a 35k audience, the worst possible thing we could witness right now is another underwhelming 90 mins where Hrubesch spends his time looking confused why his 4-4-2/4-2-4 isn't working.

Fallout from the Iceland game being concerning now, knowing this team having gone through 10 games with Hrubesch as head coach; it's crazy we're still not seeing any hint/signs of the coaches coming to the realisation 4-3-3 the best route forward to this team attaining success...

And now hearing Popp won't even be able to play a full 90 mins during the Olympics, surely this means there's ZERO excuses for the coaches to continue forcing a 4-4-2 onto these players anymore... no..?

 

I've always been confused about Popp being played as a DM, isn't she mainly a CAM?

 

At club level she's been used in every position but CAM lol. The wnt the only time she's been asked to play in this particular role, and done so never really looking particularly effective too.

Versus the Netherlands to qualify for the Olympics, we'd see Popp play in a deeper role than Nüsken in the 2nd half, and be far more relevant toward general the play than she was as a #9 during the first half.

And if it wasn't clear Popp good as a DM, at the end of the club season she'd feature in a double 6 role to help Wolfsburg win another cup Vs Bayern, and then see Popp play a DM pivot role for the first time in her career Vs Poland, producing another excellent performance in a very dominant 2nd half for her team.

Popp still the nations best as a forward (her creative/goals stats speak to this), but deployed as a DM, it's been revealed Popp is surprisingly very effective, producing performances that significantly improve overall team performance.

 

Sorry, I actually meant to write Striker, obviously I know she's not a CAM.

 

LOL... yeah, Popp should really only be used as a lone forward for the wnt. But the coaches have a brain dead belief if Popp works so well on her own, then surely Popp with Schüller generates double the attack...

Popp's offensive stats over the past 3 years have been elite. The big surprise coming now, knowing she's a below average CAM, but a potentially above average DM...

 

With Doorsoun or Solano in the team now, I'm thinking something has to happen to force Hrubesch into deploying a dedicated DM pivot to help protect/alleviate the stress from CB's trying to too much.

And after the woeful display Vs Iceland, knowing he'll be missing Hegering, and Popp, as 90 min leaders of this team, maybe this the moment we see him try to formulate a plan to place a dedicated DM pivot (Senß, or Nüsken), to sit in front of the CB's...

Matchday 2 of the Euro qualifiers, Germany would use a 4-2-3-1, featuring a CM trio of Senß - Oberdorf double 6, and Nüsken CAM. Seeing them score 3 goals in a first half they'd dominate play while creating/wasting a host of clear cut chances.

Then matchday 5 we see Hrubesch deploy a 4-2-4 away from home, featuring Senß - Nüsken as a double 6 in a game they'd both absolutely look horrible, within a team performance that was horrible. It would mean Germany going from a 3-1 home win creating 38 chances, to a 3-0 away defeat they'd create a hilariously low 9...

4-2-3-1 generating 38 ATTEMPTS in a victory they'd concede 1 goals from 9 Icelandic attempts. Compared to a 4-2-4 formation they'd end up generating 9 attempts, and conceding 6 attempts in a 3-0 defeat... hmmm, I don't think it's very difficult to understand how, or why this could of happened...

 

Any short highlights for who missed the live match and is curious about it, but doesn't want to skip through the full-match video?

Also, I must admit Jónsdóttir is a player I like.

 

I don't think anybody in the DFB or in the squad realistically thinks Germany can win the Olympics. In a way, they'll be lucky to even get out of their tricky group.

Nobody really seems that pissed about the early exit at Euro 2024. Realistically, fans know that this is one of the weakest German teams in recent history, especially upfront. Before the tournament, I predicted that Germany would go out in the quarter-finals and as soon as they faced serious contention.

 

I suspect a fair amount of them live in Iceland, not many people will travel exclusively for this game in Iceland with Germany having already secured direct qualification for the Euros.

 

New Germany mascot Ottienne made by Klara Bühl(hope it brings better luck than Waru)

Bienvenue #IMTEAM, Ottienne. 🦦
Unser Maskottchen für Frankreich. 🙌

WIR #IMTEAM 🇩🇪 | 📸 Yuliia Perekopaiko/DFB pic.twitter.com/N4YvWQZgBX

— DFB-Frauen (@DFB_Frauen) July 14, 2024

 

You can vote for German flagbearers (1 women, 1 men). Alexandra Popp is among the candidates.
https://www.teamdeutschland.de/wahl-zum-fahnentraeger-duo-2024

 

Wow, passing the ball to Jónsdóttir doens't really look like a good idea from German defense, but on the other hand at that point the game was already lost.

Windy conditions in Reykjavik, it seems, but I guess that wasn't too much relevant to the final score.

I didn't know Iceland has now another black player, beyond Jónsdóttir: who is she?

 

Natashi Anasi. She is from USA (married an Icelandic basketball coach).

 

The u19's Euro's started today for Germany, and not only is this a changed 11 than the side who qualified, the coach is also changed from a dedicated DM and CAM 4-3-3, to a flat 4-4-2...

So with me constantly speculating there is a systemic flaw with this programs player analysis department, after seeing u17 failure with 4-4-2, more senior team frustration with 4-4-2, I don't think it's a coincidence we're potential about to witness u19 and u20 failure based on this same needless tactical regression..

 

... Talk about rewriting history lol. I know you like reducing everything to incredibly basic factors, but if this was as simple as players being in "phenomenal condition", wouldn't an Austrian wnt who regularly out runs most opposition be considered one of the games elite right now...?

And this an even worse understanding of Germany's wnt, as they'd beat Iceland 3 months earlier during this same Euro qualification, creating 38 chances on goal during the first match, only to lose the latest contest creating a woeful 9. Surely hinting at there being a far bigger factor to success and failure, than players simply being able to outrun their opposition.

I mean... you not see how each of Iceland's 3 goals would all come from German individual errors..?

At no point has any German fan, or player, stated this team would be winning the Olympics... The result Vs Iceland simply a confirmation of what many fans already believed, which is Hrubesh's Germany still too tactically naive to create a team with the consistency to compete at the highest level right now.

Always changing between formations at HT, not having a clear starting 11, knowing this is Hrubesch's last moments before the wnt see their real full time coaching department arrive. The basic hope for this side was always about escaping the group stage and displaying some positive signs for the future, not winning gold.

 

Abysmal... I'm pretty sure anyone being a US soccer fan would have a far better concept of what an abysmal men's performance looks like lol; and sorry... but Germany losing to tournament winners Spain during ET, is the last thing most people would describe as abysmal..

In my personal opinion, in a generally low quality tournament I thought Germany Vs Spain had both teams producing a higher quality of football than the garbage witnessed in the final. And using hindsight now, Germany surely Spain's toughest opponent during this entire competition too, as Germany the only opponent the entire tournament to retain more possession than the possession hungry Spanish.

The DFB for many years going through a sustained downward spiral, would actually see some of their men's and women's program showcasing a few significantly better performances than should have been possible considering the perceived lower quality of talent in many peoples minds.

And knowing how cycles generally work within the history of international football, I think your either being incredibly ignorant, or attempting to be intentionally troll-ish lol, if you honestly believe Germany not going to return as a major force at some future period of time...

The DFB allowed to be overrun with too many people not remotely interested in actually creating winning football, in the process it seeing the federation unable to hold it's position as one of the wealthiest/powerful football institutions on the planet.

But there's only so much losing any genuine football nation will be prepared to take, and at some point we'll begin to see various new ideas put in place to finally turn things around.

 

Germany's u19's draw their opening Euro's match 1-1 Vs the Netherlands. But even more curious is this group seeing Spain draw with Ireland 0-0...

And with most of my attention placed on the coming disaster that is going to be Peter's talented u20 WWC team..., it's still frustrating seeing Germany's wnt coaches completely out of touch with the developments within wider modern women's football, and their own nation...

I mean, a program filled with impressive CAM's, DM's, and surprisingly now a new batch of wide forwards/wingers, continue to reduce their teams to all use 4-4-2, where CAM's, DM's, wide forwards aren't the focus on attaining success lol.

You don't have a lot of elite #9's, you don't have a lot of elite CB's. Yet you instruct all your programs coaches to build teams around needing high quality CB's, and the use of two high quality forwards...

 

40k will be in attendance for the match Vs Austria... lets hope the team shows up too...

 

Austria probably a very good opponent for Germany to face prior the Olympics, as they'll seek to play high tempo football, and won't do anything but give 100% to help create a intense local derby feel to proceedings.

A large audience watching for what could have been a boring non factor match to end the group stage, will now probably appear like an important must win contest, providing tests/pressure onto players, and coaches, in need of a reality check prior to their departure for another major finals.

No Popp, Hegering, or Lohmann, knowing Nüsken, Doorsoun, Freigang, all underwhelming replacements. This is a final opportunity for Hrubesch to find a system that will make this team effective with 2nd and 3rd choice options.

4-4-2 the last time these two faced each other saw Austria leading 2-0, making like incredibly difficult for Germany's defenders. We'll need to see Hrubesch find a way to integrate Nüsken, Doorsoun, Freigang, without it involving the 4-4-2...