After the poor 0-0 draw in Wales, the German footballers are outsiders in the Olympic qualification decision for Paris 2024.
“I would agree that we are not considered favorites,” said interim national coach Horst Hrubesch in Swansea. The 72-year-old will also sit on the DFB Women’s bench at the Nations League final tournament in February, as he confirmed at the press conference: “So it’s planned that I’ll still be there.”
Hrubesch and the team around captain Alexandra Popp had to tremble enormously. If they had won, the vice-European champions would certainly have been group winners. In the end, however, they had to rely on the help of Iceland, who surprisingly beat Denmark 1-0. Now the German selection is fighting for the two remaining European Olympic tickets.
Possible opponents in the semi-finals of the final tournament, which will be drawn on Monday, are world champions Spain, France and the Netherlands, who pushed European champions England out of the top of Group 1. The DFB team is now hoping for France as an opponent: the Olympic hosts are set for Paris. If we were to take part in the final, third place would be enough for participation.
“It wasn’t our claim”
The nervous vice-European champions were unable to build on their strong 3-0 win against Denmark last Friday in Rostock against the bottom of the table. In the fourth game under Hrubesch they missed a win for the first time and showed major weaknesses four months after the World Cup preliminary round exit in Australia.
“It wasn’t our expectation that we played like that today. In the end we also have to thank Iceland,” said Hrubesch after the game and found clear words: “We did what we didn’t really want to do: we got this We let the game get out of our hands and just ran after it in the first half.” The HSV idol initially only decided publicly that he would take over the four group games in the Nations League. It is still unclear whether he would also sit on the bench at the Summer Games if he qualified for the Olympics.
