Test against the world champion: uneasiness and anticipation in the DFB

Almost 100 days after the European Championship final in Wembley are eight and a half months before the start of the 2023 World Cup in Australia.

A sporting position determination or a self-assurance of one's own strength against the current world champions is just right - one might think.

National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg emphasizes that it will be "a pleasure to fly across the Atlantic", but she does not conceal her general uneasiness about the long-distance journey.

The 54-year-old has nominated 26 players to be able to field two completely different starting formations in the two games against the United States.

Especially since the two games are taking place within 48 hours: this Friday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (1:00 a.m. on zdf.de);

then on Sunday 1200 miles north in Harrison, New Jersey (11:00 p.m. on sportschau.de).

Voss-Tecklenburg: timing "not ideal"

The international trip had been postponed several times due to the pandemic.

And the long-awaited showdown against an absolute top opponent has become a mandatory task that has been squeezed between the Bundesliga matchday, the DFB Cup round of 16 and the Champions League commitments of the two top clubs VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich, which make up the majority of the German selection.

Voss-Tecklenburg described the timing of the tour as "not ideal" and announced that he would be "very careful" with the stress on the respective players.

Because a contract is a contract.

"We still owe it to the USA," said the national coach in good time, also with a view to a hoped-for return visit by the Americans in Germany.

Of course, now is the time to make the most of the trip.

Not only because it is against an "extraordinary opponent at the absolute top level, who will challenge us in all respects" (Voss-Tecklenburg).

But also because the American stage also represents a special opportunity for many players.

With Lea Schüller, Marina Hegering, Sara Däbritz, Giulia Gwinn, Tabea Waßmuth and Sydney Lohmann, six of the European Championship heroines are missing due to injury.

Which gives the two newcomers Janina Minge (SC Freiburg) and Melissa Kössler (TSG Hoffenheim) the prospect of playing time against their first non-European opponent in a year and a half.

This also applies to Carolin Simon (FC Bayern), Joelle Wedemeyer (Wolfsburg) and Paulina Krumbiegel (Hoffenheim), who have returned to the DFB circuit after a long break.

20 players in the squad are employed by the current top three in the Bundesliga: nine in Wolfsburg, five at Frankfurt Eintracht, six in Munich.

There is also a prominent active who plays soccer in America.

Or would have liked to have played more in the season that has already ended there.

We are talking about goalkeeper Almuth Schult, who joined Los Angeles-based Angels FC in the American professional league NWSL after the European Championship.

The 31-year-old only stood there between the posts once.

Because the new season doesn't start until spring next year and the mother of twins hasn't yet decided to take up the option of a second year in Los Angeles, she is currently practically without a club.

She recently trained in Wolfsburg and also in Frankfurt with the DFB national coach.

It is considered certain that Almuth Schult will play in one of the two international matches.

The long-standing goalkeeper is definitely one of those players in the squad who cannot complain about a tight schedule of game dates and a correspondingly high workload.

For example, while the Wolfsburg team played 39 competitive games in the club last season, the schedule for national team players from Frankfurt or Freiburg is much lighter.

The Bundesliga, which consists of only twelve teams, offers only 22 match days between mid-September and the end of May, plus appearances in the DFB Cup.

Due to the numerous and long periods of absence in women's football, "normal" Bundesliga players repeatedly have breaks that interrupt their rhythm and are also unpleasant for the club audience.

An increase in the league, which would benefit most (smaller) clubs in sporting and economic terms, has recently been discussed more intensively.

The clubs involved in the European Cup, on the other hand, simply lack the imagination to accommodate further dates if they do not want to abolish the winter break or shorten it significantly.

In the coming weeks, it is hoped that women's football will receive special attention when the men's professional games are suspended.

Against this background, it is astonishing and clumsy that the schedule for the women's Bundesliga was already canceled after the weekend of 10./11.

December on winter break.

At least the big stadiums in some places are not deserted from mid-November to the end of January.

Freiburg, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg each play a league game there, and the women of FC Bayern go to the Munich Arena for the Champions League game against Barcelona for the second time in the club's history.

At the end of the press conference before the trip to the USA, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was also more interested in two top-class sporting competitions with the world champions.

The games would "provide valuable insights for preparing for next year's World Cup," she said.