German coach curious about Vietnam women's defense ability

Germany's women's national team coach , Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, is looking forward to seeing how the Vietnamese women's national team implements their defensive style of play in tonight's friendly match on June 24th.

German women's team coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. Photo: DPA

Coach Voss-Tecklenburg assessed Vietnam as a disciplined team that has adapted to the European environment through three friendly matches. "They will try to challenge us with their tight defense," the 55-year-old coach said at the pre-match press conference on the evening of June 23rd. "I'm curious to see how they implement it."

Voss-Tecklenburg believes Vietnam will play with a formation of three or five central defenders, combined with long balls. Against a physically smaller opponent, Germany wants to completely control the game but isn't prioritizing the result, as the team only assembled on June 21st and hasn't had much time to train. "We're trying to win, but that's not our biggest goal," said the German women's national team coach. "We will accept a higher-than-normal level of mistakes."

Germany is ranked second in FIFA, 30 places higher than Vietnam, but the difference in skill level is significant. Germany has won the World Cup twice (2003 and 2007), the 2016 Olympic gold medal, and the European Championship eight times. However, in the last three World Cups, their best performance was fourth place in 2015. At Euro 2022, Germany lost to England 1-2 after extra time in the final.

Forward and captain Alexandra Popp (number 11) is the most notable star on the German women's national team. Photo: Imago

Germany will host Vietnam at the Bieberer Berg Stadium in Offenbach at 6:15 PM local time, which is 11:15 PM Hanoi time today, June 24th. In their three most recent friendly matches, Germany drew 0-0 with Sweden, won 1-0 against the Netherlands, and lost 1-2 to Brazil.

Vietnam will be without captain Huynh Nhu due to injury. Meanwhile, Germany will not use the Bayern Munich group of players as they have only gathered for one day. Therefore, the world's second-ranked team will be without strikers Lea Schuller - who scored 30 goals in 46 matches and Klara Buhl - who scored 14 goals in 34 matches for Germany, in addition to midfielder Lina Magull, defenders Carolin Simon and Sydney Lohmann.

The most notable name in the German women's team is captain and striker Alexandre Popp, who scored 61 goals in 127 matches and was included in the 2020 and 2022 World XI selected by the International Federation of Football Statistics and History (IFFHS). "We are a true team that plays beautiful and passionate football," said the 32-year-old striker.

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