The national coach plays a dual role.

For one, and most important to her, she encourages her team to think big and enjoy the interim results to the full.

But at the same time, in the differentiated situation analysis, she also points out that more has to be done in order to really rise to the old size.

The preliminary round at the European Championship has changed the picture given by the selection of the German Football Association (DFB): the bar is set high again.

The players, who Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has cast over months and adjusted to the moment in an exemplary manner, are not marginal figures on the international stage this time, but form a defensive squad that tackles the tasks with a hot heart and cool stringency.

That pleases: Visitor numbers and ratings are a strong argument for women's football made in Germany.

Fitness is key

The delight at the sovereign entry into the quarter-finals also results from past setbacks.

Twelve months ago, the Germans did not take part in the Olympic tournament because they had dropped out early at the World Cup and thus lost the starting permit for the glossy event in Tokyo.

What Voss-Tecklenburg, her support staff and the players have done to reverse the trend since then is remarkable.

They took up the association's proposal, which made three preparatory camps possible.

In addition to the breadth of the squad, fitness is one of their trump cards, which they can also use against Austria.

On the sponsor's premises in Herzogenaurach, which already opened up a variety of opportunities for Hansi Flick's team, this time the players had the most modern training equipment and excellent accommodation at their disposal for weeks;

despite all the effort that was the focus of the basic work, it offered the freedom to relax after a strenuous club season.

A competence collective

The strikingly harmonious cooperation created a hierarchy in which everyone knows their role, accepts it and fills it with passion.

Voss-Tecklenburg also steers the group with a sure instinct that she lacked on previous occasions.

Under her direction, 23 individualists grew together to form a competence collective.

Anyone who sees how the substitutes push the starting XI or how substitutes get down to business without any problems can understand why the competition will again speak with respect of this DFB generation in the summer of 2022.

The German contribution to the European Championship, where a vibrant atmosphere usually emanates from the grandstands, is also well received by the English audience, which characterizes specialist knowledge, fairness and enthusiasm.

But it is also part of reality, at least that's what the triumphs in the past taught, that the German party mood often quickly disappeared after stepping out of the limelight and returning to everyday league life.

It is therefore understandable that Voss-Tecklenburg and the players would like to savor the current exhilaration a bit.

Preferably with your own participation until the final weekend in Wembley at the end of July.

The necessary combination of class and temperament is clearly present.