Alexandra Popp simply lacked the strength to think about her sporting future. After a pretty sleepless night in Brisbane, the DFB captain and the national team, shocked by the World Cup debacle, were deep in crisis management.
“Everyone needs time to come to terms with themselves,” said Popp before cleaning up the World Cup base in Wyong. Because probably nobody had expected the preliminary round to be eliminated, it was difficult to book home travel tickets for the 70-strong DFB entourage in several planes for Saturday.
For the days after the return, the head of the German Football Association announced an in-depth analysis of the failure, which should also deal with the role of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. The 55-year-old wrote on Instagram the day after the end of the World Cup trip that “it will hurt for a long time”. There are indications that her selection will take her into the Nations League in September and the associated Olympic qualification for Paris 2024. “We have achieved and pushed a lot in the last two years and we want to continue to build on that despite this setback,” said Voss-Tecklenburg a day later.
Neuendorf strengthens Voss-Tecklenburg
DFB President Bernd Neuendorf has already expressed his confidence in the national coach. He can say clearly, “We only extended the contract with her a few months ago after this extremely successful European Championship last year and have expressed the trust that she still enjoys,” said Neuendorf on ZDF. The DFB boss went on to explain: “But in order to achieve long-term goals, there are also setbacks.” The round of 16 was firmly planned, Neuendorf himself then wanted to travel to Australia.
Joti Chatzialexiou, the head of the national teams who was already shaken by the failure of the men at the Qatar World Cup and the U21s at the European Championships, did not want to comment specifically on Voss-Tecklenburg’s future in Brisbane. The trainer still has a contract until the EM 2025 in Switzerland. The events of the World Cup should be discussed “self-critically” and then the “future direction” should be decided, Chatzialexiou said.
Goal scorer Popp, who is still one of the better players with four goals in three games, kept asking for time to come to terms with it. “Not every player can say overnight that I’m fine,” said the 32-year-old from VfL Wolfsburg. “Very far away” for her is the question of further assignments in the national team. Even after the European Championships last year, which triggered a bit of hype when they reached the final, Popp left her sporting future with the DFB open for a long time.
Popp also hopes fans
Now the captain is hoping that German fans will not lose interest in women’s football again. “But the development throughout the year was so beautiful to look at, so immense and so extremely important for the sport that I hope it stays that way,” said Popp. 8.06 million viewers watched the 1-1 draw against South Korea live on ZDF, it was by far the most watched show of the day.
Instead of the targeted World Cup title and a full payday, the DFB team now has to be content with a bonus of USD 30,000 (around EUR 27,000) per player. The third World Cup triumph after 2003 and 2007 was not even within reach. The morning after, the replay of the frustrating game against South Korea was played on the televisions in the hotel lobby in Brisbane like a mockery. The German players quickly fled their hostel for a walk.
“I think we missed a great opportunity for the next generation,” said DFB top official Chatzialexiou. “It’s also a setback for women’s football, because we actually had a lot more to do. We actually wanted to play for the title,” said Chatzialexiou. No consolation: Olympic champions Canada and South American champions Brazil are also out of the tournament after the preliminary round.
The early failure has no consequences for the German footballers – in contrast to the quarter-finals at the 2019 World Cup – at least with a view to the 2024 Olympics. At the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand no tickets for Paris were awarded this time. The only way for European teams to secure their two designated spots is through the UEFA Nations League. Germany were drawn against Denmark, Iceland and Wales in Group 3 of League A. First up is Denmark on September 22nd, four days later there is a home game against Iceland in Bochum.
