Women’s World Cup 2023: Germany coach calls early exit ‘a disaster’

The 2003 and 2007 champions - and one of the favourites to win the tournament - crashed out in the group stage for the first time in its history.

Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg consoles goalkeeper Merle Frohms after her side crashed out of the Women’s World Cup.  | Photo Credit: AFP

Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg called it “a disaster” after Germany suffered an early exit from the Women’s World Cup with a 1-1 stalemate against South Korea on Thursday.

The 2003 and 2007 champions - and one of the favourites to win the tournament - crashed out in the group stage for the first time in its history.

Debutants Morocco instead reached the last 16 after stunning Colombia 1-0 to join the South Americans on six points in Group H.

FIFA Women’s World Cup: Two-time champion Germany knocked out after 1-1 draw with South Korea

Germany finished third in the table on four points and will be heading home.

“If you want to see it as a disaster in sporting terms, then it’s hard to argue against it,” Voss-Tecklenburg said after the stalemate in Brisbane condemned her side.

Voss-Tecklenburg said she was still trying to come to terms with going out at the first hurdle and refused to speculate about her future with the national team.

“Our team of coaches will talk about what happened of course and what we could have done differently, but it’s not something I can analyse one and half hours after exiting.

“But of course I’m disappointed, of course I’m frustrated. Overall we never really played our game the way we know we can,” she added.

“Maybe we were too careful at the start. Maybe we were too uptight and tried to force things.”

Last summer’s European finalists came into the game knowing that a win against South Korea would take them through to the knockout stage.

The team ranked second in the world was expected to get the better of a side that had lost its opening two matches and had almost no chance of advancing.

But Colin Bell’s side went a goal up early on through Cho So-hyun and defended stoutly to frustrate its opponents, who could not find a winner following Alexandra Popp’s first-half equaliser.

The Englishman Bell said his side deserved the draw despite the pressure the Germans put them under.

“We had a chance early with Casey Phair and then when Cho scored early it just freed up our team,” he said.

“The way they played, the way they fought, we really deserved a point. When Popp scored everyone probably expected us to lose, but we kept fighting, kept playing,” he added.

- Frustration -

The Germans said before the game the players wanted more creativity after its shocking 2-1 loss to Colombia, but the side was unable to convert many chances.

Sixteen-year-old striker Phair almost scored inside three minutes when she latched onto a through ball, but her shot was brilliantly saved by German goalkeeper Merle Frohms.

Three minutes later the Germans went behind from an almost identical move, Choe Yu-ri playing a ball through to Cho, whose side-foot effort beat Frohms to find the back of the net.

The goal seemed to spur Germany into action, and it dominated possession and territory after that, although it couldn’t find a way through the Korean defence.

The Germans found plenty of space out wide on both sides and when the equaliser came three minutes from the break it was no surprise it was from a cross.

Svenja Huth put in a delightful ball for skipper Popp, who rose above the Korean defenders to powerfully head home.

The Germans came out firing after the break and threw everything at the South Koreans.

Germany had a goal disallowed for offside in the 59th minute before Popp smacked the bar with another header moments later.

As the clock ticked down Germany became more and more desperate but despite plenty of endeavour it never really looked like finding a winner in the 13 minutes of stoppage time.