“We’re at perhaps 40 percent.”

The German women’s national team was able to secure a 2-1 victory against fellow 2023 Women’s World Cup entrants Vietnam in Offenbach yesterday, but there were several areas in which the Bundesrepublik’s “Nationalelf” struggled. A beautifully played attacking charge enabled TSG 1899 Hoffenheim’s Paulina Krumbiegel to polish off the 1-0 in the 3rd minute, but the DFB Mädels were unable to find the back-of-the-net again until near the end of the match.

Chances thereafter were at a premium. When the German women were able to catch a glimpse at goal, Chantal Hagel, Melissa Kögel, and Laura Freigang missed their chances. Defensive errors from Sara Doorsoun and Sophia Kleinherne led to keeper Merle Frohms having to bail the team out on a couple of occasions. After Janina Mine finally scored the 2-0 in the 80th, the Vietnamese women generated several opportunities and were able to pull a goal back.

Freigang, in her post-match interview in the mixed zone, labelled it “unsurprising” that the guests were able to get on the scoreboard. The 25-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt attacker noted that she actually felt as if the opponents and their traveling support deserved to be rewarded for their efforts before calling for some specific troubleshooting.

“It shouldn’t happen that we’re so open back there,” Freiburg admitted, “The goal against was, of course, very annoying.”

Freigang then went on to note that the squad remained in an embryonic phase of sorts. Bundestrainerin Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s starting XI was comprised almost exclusively of Eintracht Frankfurt and Hoffenheim players. Sara Däbritz (Olympique Lyon) and Lena Lattwein (VfL Wolfsburg) were the only non-TSG/SGE outfielders to feature from the start.

This was because most all of the VfL Wolfsburg professionals and the entire FC Bayern München block only just joined up with the team in the last couple of days after being accorded extra rest. The VfL “She-Wolves” had to participate in both the Women’s UCL and DFB Pokal Final. Hence, Marina Hegering, Jule Brand, and Tabea Sellner were only used off the bench.

Alexandra Popp, Felicitas Rauch, Kathrin Hendrich, and Svenja Huth were not used at all. Other VfL or FCB actors such as Lena Oberdorf, Sydney Lohmann, Lina Magull, Lea Schüller, Klara Bühl, and Tabea Waßmuth weren’t even in the squad at all. In their own post-match interviews, Däbritz and Frohms cited this as one of the reasons that, in Frohms’ words, “the basics were missing.”

Tecklenburg used the same words as her keeper.

“We can’t fall back on excuses,” the Bundestrainerin told the ZDF microphones, “That’s not enough. Basics are missing in many areas and that’s not the way we want to play football. We had trouble finding the [attacking] channels. We still have a lot of work to do in all areas. We’re at perhaps 40 percent.”

The German women’s national team have one more friendly in Germany scheduled before it comes time to depart for base camp in Australia. Voss-Tecklenburg’s team will contest a test fixture against another team that has qualified for the competition, Zambia, in Fürth on July 7th. Some additional scrimmages may be organized before it comes time to kick off group stage play against Morocco in Melbourne on July 24th.

Freigang, after noting the absences from the squad, insisted that all were focused on “arriving at the World Cup at 100 percent.”

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