Women’s World Cup: One of the first findings of the World Cup is a DFB surprise.
The first day of the Women’s World Cup was already tough. While many favorites stumble, the DFB-Elf is already in top form. Surprise follows surprise. The first insights into an exciting world championship.
After Germany Group H has also completed its games, the first World Cup match day is already over. We gained some insights that we didn’t expect – and yes, the DFB team is also a surprise for us.
1. The underdogs are stronger than you think
The World Cup started on July 20th with a big surprise: Although New Zealand were the hosts against Norway, the “Kiwis” were the blatant outsiders. On the one hand, because New Zealand couldn’t win a single one of their 15 games in the five World Cup participations and on the other hand, because Norway sent an absolutely world-class team down under. Nevertheless, the hosts won the game 1-0 and sparked tears of joy across the country that even ex-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern couldn’t hold back.
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And the World Cup debutants from Ireland (0:1 against Australia), Haiti (0:1 against England) and Vietnam (0:3 against the USA) were also able to convince despite their defeats. While Ireland and Haiti narrowly lost to two of the world’s strongest teams at the moment, Vietnam avoided the much-anticipated smack. For comparison: in 2019 the Americans swept Thailand 13-0 off the field.
2. France’s tournament curse continues against Jamaica
France has been one of the favorites for years and a big title is long overdue. But in the final tournaments, the nerves of the always world-class team of the French women seem to fail. In 2015 and 2019 it was already over in the quarterfinals – even though you started as the host four years ago.
Then, as Les Bleues seemed to flourish under their new coach Hervé Renard, everyone had the French back at the top of their list. But Jamaica’s women’s footballers successfully blocked any offensive efforts from France’s world-class striker, providing another early World Cup surprise.
3. Germany is the best team of the first matchday
The DFB women’s preparations for the World Cup were anything but satisfactory: first the scandal surrounding the Bayern players, who arrived later than agreed for the training camp, then the surprising but well-deserved 2-3 defeat against World Cup newcomers Zambia and finally the bad luck with injury to defensive ace Carolin Simon, who tore a cruciate ligament against Zambia.
With the World Cup opening opponent Morocco, the DFB-Elf finally expected a team that comes across as unpleasant and combative and is currently one of the up-and-coming nations in Africa. Italy and Switzerland have not scored a goal against Morocco in preparation for the World Cup.
The signs predicted anything but a 6-0 thrashing of the Germans – but Alex Popp, Klara Bühl and Co. were just bursting with enthusiasm and self-confidence. In this form it can actually become something, with the third star.
