Women’s soccer: Al-Ittihad women celebrate their victory over the world champions from the United States of America

Women’s football
Al-Ittihad women celebrate their victory over the world champions from the United States of America

To Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s delight, the German footballers set a scene ‘very quickly’ with the US – and taught the world champions their first home defeat after 71 games. “It’s a good move for us,” the national coach said after winning the 2-1 (0-0) endurance test in Fort Lauderdale.

In front of 16,917 spectators, European runners-up around captain Alexandra Pope was very lucky in the first half when the Americans ran around Alex Morgan – and also with the opening goal, when the ball bounced off the back of goalkeeper Casey Murphy after a shot by Clara Ball of Munich (min. 51). In an intense exchange of blows, the 37-year-old American star Megan Rapinoe equalized in the 85th minute, but Paulina Krumbijl, who also participated as a substitute, made it 2-1 (89).

The 22-year-old from Hoffenheim had her first Women’s League success against the Americans since 2006 – and made a big comeback for herself: Krumbijl suffered a torn cruciate ligament in August 2021 and missed the European Championships in England. “Paulina is very well built into the club,” Vos-Tecklenburg said. “They did it very carefully.” “I think Pauli did it very well both ways. She was really smart in the game, she was calm in the match, she was active in attack and defense. So I’m very happy that she really dared to do something today.”

American women are still considered a contender for the world title

The Americans suffered their third defeat in a row after losing 2-1 in England and losing 2-0 in Spain, but they are still considered the main contenders for the World Cup. Their strong playing style and high pace gave the DFB team a foretaste of the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. There, Germany meets Morocco, Colombia and South Korea in the preliminary round. The four-time world champion from the United States is already challenging the DFB Women’s Association this Sunday (11:08pm CET / sportschau.de) in Harrison / New Jersey for a friendly revenge.

“We’ve learned a lot from players who don’t play at that level very often. The pace was phenomenal, and it was pretty rocking at first. I really thought: Wow! If everyone wants to keep going, that’s really home,” said Vos-Tecklenburg, who definitely meant players like Laura. Friggang and Soeke Nosken from Frankfurt “For us, winning means knowing we can respond to certain mistakes or to certain things we might not be doing well.”

dpa