German Fraulein National Team 2020 & beyond

You can find the livestreams here:
https://www.sportschau.de/olympia/live
https://www.zdf.de/sport/olympia

On the days when ARD shows Olympic Games on TV the commentators of livestreams will be from ZDF and the other way round.

Eurosport will also show Olympic Games
https://www.eurosport.de/olympia/watch.shtml

 

I don't think I have Eurosport but I was hoping to watch a few games from other teams as well on my television and not just German games. I guess I'll see when I get there.

 

Germany's u19 continue the nonsense displayed Vs Netherland's, and currently find themselves losing 1-0 at HT to Ireland...

I have no idea what Germany's intentions were headed into this tournament, but from what I remember, this isn't the team who qualified, with them appearing to be a fantastically underwhelming prelude to what I imagine the u20's will be producing very soon...

 

No Däbritz, see's Germany lose their best progressive passer from CM position. No Magull, Germany's mid-field loses it's most effective goal threat. And now it places even more focus on the effectiveness of this teams forwards.

Plus it feels slightly disingenuous to see anyone say this teams offense functioning 100% correctly, when Berger would need to play key passes in 3 of Germany's 4 goals lol.

3 forwards, 3 mid-fielders, still enabling Germany's various wnt's to be their most effective. The fact Senß was able to be a main creative force in the second half, hints at this Hrubesch team potentially being even better if he constructs a balanced trio of CM's behind his main trio of attackers.

Strange to say, but I'm sure Germany's defence was a lot deeper than it normally is, with them also receiving a lot of assistance from a defensive screen of Oberdorf and Minge being sat directly in front of them too.

I liked seeing Berger comfortably dealing with aerial threats, contributing various well placed long passes to bypass Austria's high press. And thought the keep it simple approach of Solano wasteful, but effective too.

And it meant that while I wasn't impressed with the first half performance, I could still see a clear gameplan in effect, that would actually be far more effective than I would have imagined possible given this teams previous struggles with long distance transition football...

By design or coincidence (I think it was by design...), 1st half Germany would actively deploy a counter attacking system Vs Austria.

 

We just saw Austria have more than one offsides called against them.... And this Germany team doesn't even use a high pressure/counter pressing system anymore, that would result in the type of defensive scenario's your talking about here.

Plus why do you care about this, when all you do is complain about not truly understanding Germany's highly effective counter-pressing system; instead incorrectly believing it exposes FB's to counter attacks...

HA!... They beat the Netherland's away from home 0-2 with a very strong performance. They'd create 38 shots on goal Vs Iceland during a very impressive 3-1 win at home to Iceland. And had their best 45 mins in a long time in the 2nd half of the last meeting Vs Poland.

But you think all theses performances involved "dreary" football, compared to the 45 mins of long periods of inaccurate/bad football Vs Austria, masked by Germany making the most of their few limited chances lol.

Germany's changed 2nd half formation Vs Austria would even see them create more chances, and retain slightly better possession. But your deciding to use the inferior 1st half as confirmation bias, when this the same system that only a few day prior saw Germany lose 3-0 to Iceland..

 

@hotjam2 After the USwnt unable to break down mighty Costa Rica, I've seen some really bad takes from your fellow USA fans, who think they still generated a lot of good chances Vs a style of opponent they wont face at the Olympics lol...

The US players and fans surely aware of the completely unfair physical advantages of a certain Zambian dominating their league right now, no..? Or do they really believe Zambia aren't going to deploy a 9 player low block defence, and use their one man army to create chaos on counters...?

When it comes to this Olympic group stage, the one opponent I don't want to see Germany face is Zambia, all because I know it's going to be 90 mins of frustration, watching Germany constantly throwing 3 players at simply trying to prevent one individual from scoring...

And seeing the USwnt struggle to break down a far less physically robust Costa Rica, in my opinion should generate a few more concerns if your a US fan looking towards your teams first match of the Olymypics...

Inferior teams being able to construct robust low block defences becoming a growing norm in women's football. And a low ranking wnt gaining experience on the top table of women's football, could be a legit problem when they also hold such a completely unique athletic factor within their attack.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/the-woman-leading-german-footballs-new-era-at-paris-2024/a-69559207

 

After 35 shots, 8 on target, Germany's u19's somehow manage to see two subs help reverse the HT 1-0 deficient to Ireland, to score 2 goals in a 2-1 victory...

And looking at the match data, Vs an opponent who prevented Spain scoring, Germany seemed to do worse than Spain... but still end up being better than Spain to attain this victory...

So I have no idea what they'll be able to do Vs Spain in the final group match, but I'm genuinely surprised to see this side with a chance of being able to escape the group of death scenario.

 

The only Paris the team will see this summer.

 

Pretty sure the Olympics is about far more than the single prospect of facing the USwnt... and...

Did we just go through a glitch in the Matrix, and reset the clock back to 1996 lol.

Yeah, we all know Germany's wnt program no longer functioning at it's true potential, but I think your going to look incredibly stupid if you think any of the top European wnt's, will ever be resorting towards deploying bunker-ball in the hopes of beating the USwnt...

... When has this EVER been true....? Plus once again your use of data here feels ridiculously hand picked lol.

Austria away match day 1 of Euro qualification, seeing Germany adjust formation for a second half that eventually helped them turn around a 2-1 HT deficient, winning the 2nd half 2-3 thanks to them using the ball slightly better while maintaining 60% possession.

Oh, and I love how you manage to highlight the defeat to Iceland here, when facing Iceland at home would see Germany produce a ridiculous 30+ attempts on goal, in a game they'd maintain 65% of possession. Again showcasing how much of a bad take this notion of Germany being better with fewer touches of the ball truly is...

I mean... even the context of possession Vs France and Netherland's feels manipulated here. As Germany blatantly needing more of the ball to get back into a match they'd lose thanks to a poor first half they'd struggle with the battle of mid-field possession.

While the game Vs the Netherland's had Hrubesch take a huge risk for the 2nd half, intentionally relinquishing possession of the ball, in the hope it would open up more spaces for a substitute Schüller... which it thankfully did.

Repeating.. never, at no point have Germany been a truly effective team with low possession stats (anything within 30% possession) Even the games you've tried to highlight here, all having Germany in the high to mid 40's, suggesting their players still getting a lot of touches of the ball.

 

@hotjam2 Euro men's final, Spain 66% possession, compared to England's 34%. Euro Quarterfinal between Germany 52% Vs Spain 48%, we'd see a VERY different level of competitiveness between both games... no...?

I could give more examples here, but what I'm trying to explain to you is how much of the ball you actually see with possession stats in the mid to high 40's, compared to anything in the mid to high 30's...

So do Germany's women need to dominate possession to find success.. no. But like I keep trying to tell you, that's because Germany are at their very best using a balance between direct football, and methodical possession play.

Going too far either side of this, often being the main factor behind Germany's women producing bad results.

What tactics... Hayes is not a tactician lol. Where does this myth come from... Has she mentioned anything beyond the standard rhetoric about how she actually wants her version of the USwnt to play..?

When Germany stupidly forced Hrubesch to step down so MVT could take over the wnt for the WC, that was dumb because there was ZERO time for the players or coaches to work with each other prior the tournament starting.

But haven't the USwnt had 4 games and weeks of time to work with Hayes...? I'm not seeing the correlation here with this being the problem behind the USwnt maintaining a massive 80% possession..., only producing 26 shots, drawing 0-0 at home to Costa Rica...

 

Wie könnte Horst Hrubesch das Mittelfeld ohne Lena Oberdorf aufstellen? 🇩🇪🤔

A, B, C, D - oder eine andere Variante. Welche Besetzung wäre am erfolgversprechendsten? pic.twitter.com/XKF0Tvxoqq

— Fußball der Frauen 90min.de (@FF_90min) July 18, 2024

It's interesting see what people think Hrubesch will decide to do with his mid-field now, as we don't even know if he's going to use a 4-2-4 or a 4-3-3 during the Olympics.

In my mind a trio of Lohmann - Minge - Senß, the most balanced CM trio Hrubesch can create with the squad he's selected; and this with it still unclear if Lohmann will be able to last 90 mins over consecutive games...

 

I still wonder why the Olympics only allow a 18 player squad. Every three days games of 90min+ and physically demanding. The basketball teams have 12 players and play only 40 minutes with time-outs every couple minutes to put new players in. It doesn`t make sense.

 

Yeah... it feels like another legacy relic from a past era women's football played within a significantly less competitive climate...

I mean... the men have bigger 26 players squads for all international competitions now, while the women's tournaments still stuck on 23, and the Olympics ridiculously stuck on 18...

And honestly... if this about the women's Olympic tournament being a smaller 12 team senior level event, then why not just have the women's tournament move in line with the men's, where it's a u23 event with 2 senior players...?

 

I guess what I meant to say is at least they are scoring, and attacking the goal regularly. I would add that Schuller needs, to make more of her opportunites. Sure a couple were only half chances, but she probably should have had at least another goal. Brand & Buhl on the other hand were a little more efficent.

 

The one area Germany has managed to remain consistently impressive under Hrubesch, is the ability to generate chances.

And I think Germany's lack of efficiency when it comes to taking these chances, can often obscure us from grasping how good many of this teams attackers are individually; seeing how end results rarely reflect the true level of offensive threat they'll provide.

Which places an even better context on what Schüller should be able to accomplish within this national team, watching her finish Euro qualifying League A top place for the most goals scored, while still managing to place #1 at the same time with the most attempts off target, lol...

Popp as a forward still the nations most efficient attacking presence on the elite stage (league and wnt stats validate this). Reminding us a 26yo Schüller still has a lot of room to improve.

But like you and many of us have also noticed, it's actually Bühl playing from the left who's been the best wnt forward over the past 2 years. Providing another reminder of how this team should probably seek to play...

Bühl ------------- Brand
-------- Schüller --------
At their most effective, this the shape Germany's forward line will often resemble while in transition. If Germany can get Brand/Endemann contributing more, and a 3rd CM/AM creating around and running beyond Schüller, I genuinely believe Germany's offence will see significant improvement.

It just requires the coaches stop rotating between various formations, allowing younger, less experienced names to rise up and become next important elements towards this teams potential success.

 

As expected Minge replaces Oberdorf.

 

Lohmann is back

Da sind wir wieder! 😎

📸 DFB/Yuliia Perekopaiko pic.twitter.com/UhGqE5RQF9

— DFB-Frauen (@DFB_Frauen) July 20, 2024

Letzte Einheit in Frankfurt 😎 Später geht's ab nach Marseille ✈️

📸 DFB/Yuliia Perekopaiko#TeamD #RoadtoParis pic.twitter.com/3vZ2bnksYs

— DFB-Frauen (@DFB_Frauen) July 21, 2024

 

Actually the lists I mentioned there weren't intended to be my main and only argumentative point (to the point that I kept on with the discussion even after presenting them), but it seemed to me that they could show that the fact that Sophia Smith is not a top 10 player (and Trinity Rodman not even a top 20) was not a mere personal opinion of mine, but a quite common assumption, shared by most people, including some of the most common public resources when it comes to assessing players.

I am very aware of the shortcomings of the lists I mentioned (another one is the offensive-players bias that the guy on the other thread even takes to the extreme): they were only intended to be a starting point about the fact that it was the first time I was hearing such an opinion (that Smith and Rodman would be top 20 to top10 in the world), so in my opinion it was worth discussing, because I doubted that many people, even among US fans, were sharing that point of view (that's what's been shown by the subsequent discussion, where no-one apart the original poster actually defended that claim; you seem to agree too that, as biased as the charts I referred to can be, my counterpart's hypothesis is quite the exaggeration).

Sorry for the off-topic, but I felt like answering you.