German Fraulein National Team 2020 & beyond

Firstly I need to say how much this result pleases me.To see this group that I have been following for a good few years now finally have some succsess is great, after so much disapontment. And to do it against the arrogant Spanish, who despite being below their best in this tournament are still the current world champions. It could have easily been so different however, allowing Bonmati to have so much space on the edge of the box will be fatal next time, thank god it hit the bar because Spain would have gone onto win for sure.
Otherwise I think the defence did a good job, considering Spain had most of the posseion I think, they were called into action often. If it is indeed the end for Hegering and Hendrich, at least they go knowing they both played pretty well and certainly made good contributions. Sadly Popp was denied having that perhaps final match defining moment by Schuller's inability to convert what should have been a regulation finish. If she wishes to continue at the top level she simply must start to convert these chances...as much as I like her she's far too inconsistent at this point.

Her coming on however was a good move, as it allowed Nusken to go into midfield and start to have an influence, which she didn't in the first half. Also Gwinn finally got herself into the match in the second half, made something happen, and took her penalty beautifully again, showing she is comfortable in those decisive moments. Otherwise sadly it looked unlikely that Germany would score, as the attacking dysfunction continues, despite a bright start from Klara Buhl.

Brand remains Germany's most lethal and unpredictable attacking weapon, if she doesn't know what she is going to do with the ball, how will the defenders still I give her credit for never stopping and constantly pushing forward.The spanish grubs singled her out for some rough treatment but she remained unfazed. It needs to be a special project for the future coaches to work on unlocking her pontential, if they can do that, they instantly have one of the best wingers in the world, I truely believe she could be that, just not yet.....

And finally AKB again, nothing needs to be said. Absolutey love her just standing calmly waiting for the shot to come, like ice. Garcia deserves an award for her acting skills, tripping so dramatically on a blade of grass is not easy.

 

Unfortunately, prior to the 2011 home WC starting, Neid was literally given the keys to kingdom by former DFB president (and big wnt supporter) Theo Zwanzinger; and it's seen her remain the unofficial/official head of the wnt program ever since...

And to showcase her power, she'd manage to remain in this position surviving Oliver Bierhoff's intentions of reforming the wnt in 2018 (his role then being director of national teams and academy), seeing Bierhoff the one who was eventually removed form his position, while Neid would remain her curiously unspecified role lol...

Meaning it's taken 12 years before Künzer's new position created to finally help progress the wnt beyond the firm restrictive grip of Neid. And so far, the best thing Künzer has been able to accomplish is providing the wnt with legitimate coaches, far outside the view of Neid's ridiculous quota system.

What your saying here is all perfectly reasonable though....it's just annoying having to hear more ignorant US fans decide to talk about the nature of what they clearly don't understand; trying to compare the world to themselves, when their own situation remains completely unique to themselves, and themselves alone....

Best examples here being Title IX aka the single most ludicrous piece of legislation in the world of female sports (helping their wnt), to the non profit organization like financial nature of their domestic league providing their best domestic players a professional league to develop.

Deciding these are the grounds to speak on the current condition of Germany's wnt, or any rival wnt's, feeling incredibly short sighted to me, when anyone with a reasonable understanding of this sport can see the tactical progression of wider women's football at the centre of Germany's stagnation.

Losing in 2011 to a talented Japan side featuring many technically and tactically excellent players was a sign for the future, and yet Germany's tactical identity would regress under Neid, to the effect we'd see her leadership promote Jones, and then MVT to head coaching roles, requiring Hrubesch to eventually serve as interim TWICE lol...

No amount of money being spent here changing this past for Germany... none. As we'd even see them going from the best counter-press in women's football, to now not being able to press anybody effectively, while I'm reading comments telling me this a result of Germany not spending enough money lol...

Hmmmm, I feel like some of us are forgetting this is the Olympics... a competition we've only very recently seen UEFA construct a qualifying process for...

Why would we see investment for this competition, when UEFA nations have much bigger Euro's tournament, and the sport has an even bigger WC competition too...?

 

4-1 defeat Vs USA, this was some of Hegering's individual stats...
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1-0 deafeat Vs USA, this was some Hegering's individual stats...

Notice how there's very little difference here lol. The mid-field in front of her did better the second match, which made her look closer to the player we expect to see.

Hendrich and Brand the two players who'd see the biggest upgrade in performance over the two matches Vs USA. While the absence of Popp, and Schüller, was too much in the end, tactically Hrubesch at no stage really made a difference to help his own players potentially win this game either.

Between the bad system, and the offense being held hostage to the complete randomness of whatever Brand wants to do, it would leave little chance of Germany creating anything in open play.

But between Minge, Nusken, Hegering, Hendrich, we'd see enough improvement to stop the second encounter between these two teams, being played in the same level of USwnt control.

 

Why they do Anyomi like that. Get their names right,..pfft.

 

You think this was not Pia Sophie Wolter.

 

I bet you was smiling like a Honigkuchenpferd

 

I mean not many players will experience this moment. Second time I saw this at these Olympics.

 

Sweet interview from yesterday with Berger thanking Horst for believing in her.

 

I have no idea of what a Honigkuchenpferd is (and I am not sure I want to know).

 

Let`s hope the lame pc quota years are over and merit is the name of the game. As much as I loved Grings as a player, I hope I never see her near the national team. It would make for a good soap opera, but not one with a good ending

Time will tell, where the road takes us. It will be interesting to see, which philosophy Wück will implement and which players he will use.

 

hehe...it`s a old german saying. " Grinsen wie ein Honigkuchenpferd ". It means grinning like ... this type of cake

You had me now looking up the origins and I learned it comes from the 1830s and the grinning like a Honigkuchenpferd comes from the smiling icing on the cake, which is shaped like a horse. You find many of these at the chrismas markets in Germany.

For further info.. german wiki https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honigkuchenpferd

 

Well... the senior team potentially saved by Künzer now, we still have to remember Neid isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and still seems to hold a lot of power within the DFB, with a very firm grip over the future of the junior teams within the wnt program...

For the first time I remember, Neid in a documentary would openly talk about her long term project to use the wnt program as a vehicle to progress the level of female coaching (a genuinely noble cause).

But it was also interesting seeing the reaction of what Neid was saying from Theresea Merk, Kim Kulig, and former u17 coach Friederike Kromp, who'd all speak about their complete disinterest in Neid's ideas lol.

These 3 women being the most prominent female coaches in Germany when the documentary probably made, it saw Merk and Kulig also go on to say their perceived quality of coaching should be assessed on genuine merit, not simply meeting quotas.

This point of view clearly being held by Kromp too, as the most qualified female coach in Germany deciding to leave the wnt program to join Frankfurt, wanting no part of any long term future within any wnt project beyond the 3 years cycle of her highly successful u17's side.

Meaning whatever positives Neid thinks she's established, right now with Künzer being the one to convince Meinert to return, I think it clear Neid's long term plan hasn't worked at all, knowing the best female coaches in Germany showing zero interest in playing any role in her quota based projects.

 

This is the exciting part though... because if anyone here actually managed to see Wück's highly successful u17's boys, they'd mirror a lot of the ideas many feel best to help the wnt become more competitive on the elite stage.

Wück using a variation of 4-3-3, 4-1-2-3, 4-2-3-1, his most prominent player being a world class CAM talent called Noah Darvich, who placed at the centre of a team focusing a lot attention around getting the ball to highly effective dynamic wide forwards.

Not only do I expect to see Wück bring back far more emphasis on this teams CM, but do so with a dedicated CAM, while finally establishing a style of play that actively demands the players on this team to pass the ball far better too.

Of course the nature of Wück's approach to defence important. But honestly... with Solano doing well, and Kleinherne being held back, I think most of this will resolves itself in a very straight forward manner.

Leaving the biggest changes I predict for Germany, not just being the formation, but the team gaining a clear a structure to the style of play, where I can see emphasis placed firmly back onto the use of AM/CAM's

 

Germany's top 10 for average ratings....

 

The rest of the scores.....


LOL... Freigang...

 

Looking at the average ratings, I feel the 2 big what if scenarios I notice here are the potential of Lohmann and Senß if they could have started more games during this tournament....

No Oberdorf, no Däbritz, leaving behind Magull, and Lattwein, the only regular strong performing names at this tournament were Lohmann, and Senß, but neither name would feature in this team enough, with Lohmann still managing to end up rated as the teams most effective CM/AM...

 

Hey, Sidney Lohmann is anyway in top 10.

 

Making the system all about getting more from Brand, instead of getting the best from Bühl, also a huge error from the coaches when you understand how much stronger Bühl still is over Brand when it comes to decision making, and general execution inside the final 3rd of the field.

There's still a legit world class talent attached to Brand yet to be fully unlocked, and hopefully we'll see her make some more genuine developments in her game over the next few years, to see this needed evolution in her game finally happen.

But looking at the potential coming future competition between Bühl, Brand, Endemann, Dallmann, Alber, and Bender, I think this wide forward position might become the most talent rich department of Wück's team...

It's just about Germany establishing a better progressive passing style of play to get these forwards on the ball inside the opponents final 3rd more often.

 

I just read an article on Soccerdonna asking if Popp should look to stay on the wnt for next years Euro's... which I actually said pre Olympics makes complete sense if you look at her standard of play as a forward (still the best overall attacker in German women's football)...

Popp creating the teams two big 2nd half chances to score Vs Spain, (Gwinn's PK, and Schüller's big 1v1 miss), again she'd show why she's still very relevant on the sports highest stage.

And if she's healthy, extending her pro career two more years, as long as her form remains where it's been for the past years, there's no reason why Popp (and maybe Hendrich) shouldn't still be part of the next Euro's team.

 

Plus the other thing I read that gained a lot of my attention, was seeing how Hrubesch was supposedly upset with his team not being able to score goals during the knockout rounds... when this clearly ALL a direct result of his tactical decisions lol. With the following assertion being made, this actually down to Germany not producing enough young/talented players coming through being...

To me a lot of this though process a sign of the damage done by MVT post Euro's, as Germany would enter that particular event alongside Spain as the youngest squad on show, finishing with a host of German players making UEFA's team of the tournament, only to have people a few years later view the current Olympic side as old, and lacking talent..

Soccerdonna even taking this to the extreme, saying Brand still being the youngest player in the German squad a concern now, when the use of some perspective here, would show you Germany's attack actually already young, with Brand (like Oberdorf), having joined the wnt incredibly early too.

The only other really impressive attacking youngsters in the league last season being Fudalla, and Kowalski, both being around the same age as Brand.... are we really saying an 18yo Alber should have been selected ahead of someone like Endemann, or Anyomi...?

Even if I personally wanted to see Gräwe selected for the Olympics squad, she's still the same age as Brand too, so... I don't get it lol. Are the coaches meant to select some random teenager just to sit on the bench for the positive optics of them having young talent...?

24yo Linder, 26yo Senß, 23yo Endemann, helped lower the average age of the Olympic team, and should have been clear upgrades over what we witnessed during the WC. But for different reasons none featured prominently in this tournament.

And when Wuck takes over, it should be obvious the average age of the team will likely increase, not decrease, if he brings back options like Dallmann, Magull, Simon, with the general quality potentially improving as a result of these types of more mature options.

 

Age 23 or younger....
Bühl (23)/Alber (18) ------------ Elmazi (21)/Weidauer (22) ------------ Brand (21)/Endemann (23)
------------------------------------------- Kowalski (21)/Fudalla (22) -------------------------------------------
--------------------- Oberdorf (21)/Nüsken (22) ----------- Gräwe (21)/Diehm (20) ------------------------
Sterner (21) ----- Pucks (20)/Stegemann (22) ----- Landenberger (20)/Veit (18) ----- Hahn (22)

None of the defensive options had a chance of the Olympic team. In my opinion only Gräwe, or Kowalski the two names who could have joined the Olympic team and found themselves starting games.

Your not going to see this team have a better attack, if your constantly forcing everything to go long balls from the GK, or having Brand needing to beating 2 or 3 players from mid-field before getting anywhere near the opposition goal.

And for a side in greater need of superior mid-field balance, again it's on Hrubesch not using Senß and Lohmann more in a team already missing the quality of Magull, Oberdorf, Däbritz, and Lattwein.