Wild Wück debut to happiness DFB women survive Harakiri game against European champions England
October 25, 2024, 10:27 p.m
What a spectacle to mark the start of the new national coach: Christian Wück’s revamped national soccer team initially played England to the ground at Wembley – only to then barely win 4-3 in a wild and offensive, but also very flawed game.
The overjoyed Christian Wück hugged his players and laughed after his dream debut. Right from his debut, the national coach celebrated a prestigious victory on the hallowed turf of Wembley. The German footballers deservedly won the breathless new edition of the 2022 European Championship final against runner-up world champion England 4:3 (3:2), and thanks to two goals from the new captain Giulia Gwinn, there was hardly any trace of setting cracks after the big upheaval.
“Das war eine Achterbahnfahrt der Gefühle”said Gwinn on ARD, “da war einfach alles dabei: Tore, Elfmeter, Abseitstore, Pfostentreffer. Natürlich freuen wir uns, Christian einen solch tollen Einstand ermöglicht zu haben. So kann es weitergehen.” Wück looked up at the sky as fireworks lit up London’s legendary football cathedral before kick-off. He didn’t have to wait long for the first big effect in front of 47,967 fans: after just two minutes, his team was practically given a penalty kick due to a passing error by English captain Leah Williamson – Gwinn safely converted (4th) in the bottom left.
Wück’s first personnel decision paid off early on. The national coach had brought in debutant Giovanna Hoffmann (RB Leipzig), who played the pass to the fouled Linda Dallmann, more or less out of necessity after the short-term storm failures of Lea Schüller and Laura Freigang. Hoffmann later also gave her first assist.
Resignations of Popp, Hegering and Frohms
Wück in luck – this continued in the fight for the European Championship revenge in the same place (1:2 nV) and continued and continued. The supposed 1-1 by Alessia Russo (10th) was preceded by an offside position and it didn’t count. Then Klara Bühl played a precise switch to Gwinn, who shot from 14 meters to the inside post and made it 0-2 (11th).
It remained high-class and spectacular, immediately followed by an English hit on the post by Russo (13th): Horst Hrubesch’s successor certainly didn’t have a quiet first few minutes as national coach, but it was a successful one. The 51-year-old still ran through his coaching zone again and again and complained about simple ball losses; DFB President Bernd Neuendorf was happy to see it in the stands.
The resignations of long-time captain Alexandra Popp, defense chief Marina Hegering and goalkeeper Merle Frohms could have shaken the entire structure of the Olympic bronze medalists, but it didn’t happen that way. On the contrary: Bühl even scored the third goal (29th), she hit the short corner after a dry hook.
Wück cheered with both fists and roared with joy, which only lasted until Gwinn unfortunately caused a penalty with his hand in the tackle. Her Bayern teammate Georgia Stanway gave Olympic hero Ann-Katrin Berger no chance and brought England back into an outstanding game: she scored again (33rd/36th).
Strong counterattacks, then goalkeeping errors
It was not only a catastrophic bad pass from Sara Doorsoun (39′) that it became more and more apparent that the coordination in the German defense was not right. But there were always offensive highlights such as Linda Dallmann’s 30-meter shot onto the crossbar (45th + 4th) or Jule Brand’s disallowed goal (51st) after substitute Selina Cerci was previously offside.
Wück ended Hoffmann’s encouraging debut at halftime and also brought on Felicitas Rauch for Sarai Linder at the back left. The challenge remained defensive stability against the always dangerous hosts, which the newly formed German defense now solved better overall. Germany expected England deeper, thereby taking away the speed of their opponents’ game and countered strongly via Brand (59th) or Bühl (61st) (59th) – but without the fourth goal.
That came when Sara Däbritz (72nd) scored another penalty as a substitute for the now substituted Gwinn. Russo fouled Pia-Sophie Wolter. Berger then let a harmless ball slip through her hands, allowing Lucy Bronze to make it 3-4 (81′). Wück’s next test comes on Monday (6:10 p.m./ZDF), when Popp plays her farewell game against Australia in Duisburg. The first big goal is the European Championships in Switzerland in the summer of 2025.
