Before the start of the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, national soccer player Lena Oberdorf had high expectations of herself. “I had robbed myself of my lightness,” said the 21-year-old midfielder to “Stern”.
After being voted the third best player in Europe and the fourth best in the world, she put herself under pressure: “I thought: What if I play badly? Then everyone says: How did she end up among the best footballers in the world?”
Oberdorf, who is under contract with seven-time German champions VfL Wolfsburg, should help lead the DFB team to the title at the championships in Australia and New Zealand. But she’s more nervous before games than she used to be. “I always thought I could push expectations away, but I had problems with that last year,” said Oberdorf.
Working with sports psychologists
She speaks to a sports psychologist several times a week. From him she learned breathing techniques for relaxation when she was too nervous. “I’m then logged out, it must look strange. A maximum of ten minutes, then I notice how I calm down. And everything falls away from me,” reported Oberdorf.
Next Monday in Melbourne against Morocco (10.30 a.m. CEST / ZDF) the first task for the German team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg in the preliminary round. The other opponents in Group H are Colombia, who are waiting for the DFB team in Sydney on July 30 (11:30 a.m. CEST/ARD), and finally South Korea (12:00 p.m. CEST/ZDF). The final will take place on August 20th.
