It’s no secret that German soccer players were drawn to a relatively easy group during the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (July 20 to August 20). Among the big nations, they have the best chance not only of qualifying for the round of 16, but also of finishing first in Group H.

However, national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side shouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating opponents Morocco, Colombia and South Korea. Especially since the last two friendlies against Vietnam and Zambia have been anything but smooth and German footballers need to show a significant improvement in their performance at the World Cup.

Voss-Tecklenburg deliberately chose Zambia as a dress rehearsal ahead of the World Cup as the champions South Africa have a similar style of play to Colombia. Both nations are very physical, sometimes going beyond the authorized limit. The Colombians recently caused a scandal in a friendly match against the Irish national team. Ireland called off the game after around 20 minutes because, according to the Irish association Fai, it had been played “excessively physically”.

According to the media, Irish coach Vera Pauw said her players were “afraid” for their physical integrity. The Colombian association issued a statement on its own website and stressed that the rules of the game had been respected.

After Germany’s opener against Morocco next Monday (10:30 CEST/ZDF), Colombia are the opponents of the second preliminary round on July 30 (11:30 CEST/ARD) in Sydney and should place the DFB team under the most pressure in the fight for the top spot in the group. The Colombian team, coached by Nelson Abadía, participated in the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 and qualified for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand via the South American championship of their home country, where they qualified for the final and nearly lost to Brazil. .

Colombia counts on talented young people

In the case of Colombia, there is great hope for the youngsters, the U17s finished runners-up at the World Cup in India last year. A sign of the nation’s positive development in women’s football in recent years. Of particular note in the Colombian squad is Linda Caicedo, now 18, who will move to Real Madrid after the summer. The highly talented winger made his senior national team debut at the age of 14. A year later, she was diagnosed with cancer, which did not prevent her from quickly returning to the field after successful surgery and chemotherapy.

In addition to Caicedo, special attention is paid to Catalina Usme, who is the key player in the transition game. After winning the ball back with mostly aggressive pressing, it’s Usme who should play the passes from the center in order to put Mayra Ramírez in the spotlight as the best striker. However, if the pressing is overplayed, Germany have a good chance of creating plenty of scoring chances.

At the start of the group stage, Morocco awaits the German footballers, for whom this is the first participation in a World Cup. The nation qualified via the African Championships in their own country, in which they lost to South Africa in the final. As a result, a jolt went through the nation and even King Mohammed VI. pleaded for more support for women’s football. The Moroccan association had already presented corresponding measures in 2020, which, among other things, resulted in the establishment of a national professional league, the National Professional Women’s Football Championship.

The coach is a well-known Frenchman: Renal Pedro has been in office since the end of November 2020 and, among other things, coached the women of Olympique Lyonnais between 2017 and 2019. There he won the Champions League twice and the championship, once he even managed the hat-trick. Standards are an important factor for him and his team. The Moroccans rarely manage to create good chances from a mostly stable defence. This is all the more important as forward Rosella Ayane uses it. Ayane is probably her country’s most famous player, she is currently under contract with Tottenham Hotspur.

South Korea need a lot of confidence to play

Germany’s latest opponent is South Korea, which is competing at a World Cup for the fourth time, so far with moderate success. The nation had their best result when they took part in 2015, where they only lost to France in the round of 16. Most recently, South Korea finished second in the Asian Cup in India after losing 2-3 to China. The manager since October 2019 is Colin Bell, who won the Champions League with 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2015 and previously worked with Jürgen Klopp at Mainz 05.

Bell has a clear idea of ​​how he wants to play football and demands a lot of flexibility from his team in terms of tactics as well as the confidence to be on the ball against big nations. Central midfielder Ji So-yun, who played at Chelsea until the summer of 2022, is essential to him. The 32-year-old has exceptional technique and has already impressed at Chelsea with her mostly successful dribbling. It should be all the more difficult for the German team to pull off a pressing attack against So-yun.

In the end, Germany are favorites in this Group H. The other three nations are tied, but all have the potential to stumble the Voss-Tecklenburg team. The group at the European Championships in England last year was undoubtedly much stronger. But it takes just as much energy, enthusiasm and aggression from Germany to finish first in the knockout stage.