Germany vs. Colombia
The 10th match-day of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup saw two European powerhouses make strong statements in their second group-stage fixtures. An eagerly-anticipated match between perennial favorites Sweden and upstarts Italy ended with the Scandinavians executing a 5-0 rout. The Swedish Blaugults have now qualified for the knockouts after winning their first two tournament ties.
An inter-continental duel between France and Brazil proved every bit the fabulous advert for women’s football lovers of the sport were hoping for. A fast and consistently exciting affair concluded with the French eking out a 2-1 win. Les Bleaus rise to the top of Group F, but must still secure a win against Panama in order to top the Brazilians and qualify out of the group.
With Round Two of the competition nearly complete, one European giant is yet to play their second tournament match. Last Summer’s Euro runners-up Germany – tapped by many as top favorites to win this year – square off against a promising Colombian side tomorrow. Just about everything went right for the DFB-XI in their opener against Morocco, but an injury to left-back Felicitas Rauch places pressure on an already depleted defensive corps.
The Bundesrepublik’s Frauen Nationalmannschaft also face a much tougher opponent.
Germany
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg remains characteristically tight-lipped about how she plans to rebuild her defense without Rauch. The German footballing media, in turn, have done their level best to force the issue. The most common speculation making the rounds revolves around a start for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim defender Chantal Hagel. Jim Dekker – the embedded correspondent in the DFB camp for Germany’s Kicker Magazine – went so far as to ask Hagel at which position she’s been training. The 25-year-old dryly confirmed that she’d been drilling in the role.
Hagel and Eintracht Frankfurt defender Sofia Kleinherne are the two direct candidates to replace Rauch assuming that Voss-Tecklenburg wishes to retain her 4-2-3-1. Sjoeke Nüsken seems a much more remote possibility as she’s returning from injury. Hagel seems the surest bet after directly relieving Rauch towards the end of the previous match. The squad already has a natural attacker working in the right-back role in the form of Svenja Huth, meaning that a back three with wingbacks can be built if one wishes to get creative:
Lineup—Germany—Match Two (Projected) (5-4-1)
Here we have something more closely related to a fan’s fever-dream. Positionally, however, all of the pieces fit. Jule Brand ordinarily plays further back on the left. Däbritz can play further forward and has paired with Lina Magull in the past. Nicole Anyomi has long-since proven that she can ben plugged in anywhere on the forward line. Lena Oberdorf as a back-three pivot-runner almost perfectly places her to both break-up play at hit the higher axes with her accurate long verticals and switches.
The more likely scenario, of course, is that Hagel will simply take Rauch’s place in the regular constellation. Voss-Tecklenburg faces two choices with respect to her returning players Oberdorf and Marina Hegering. Both have partaken in regular training and, at this point, may be considered passed fit. A start for Oberdorf appears a must given that the defense requires such urgent assistance. The writer actually considers a start for Hegering unlikely. Sara Doorsoun earned consistent and deserved plaudits in the German press for her recent performance.
No sense in chancing it with Hegering when Doorsoun is in such good form.
Colombia
Scouting Las Cafeteras on a tactical level proved a difficult exercise. The author honestly kept getting lost in all the fun. Nelson Abadia’s girls are an absolute joy to watch. This spirited side plays a brand of eminently enjoyable football. It’s rather easy to see why some predicted that they can advance out of this group and possibly even shock the Germans. Riding high after their Copa America campaign, the hosts of the recent continental championship undeniably parlayed their momentum into this tournament.
The quality of short-passing game enables them to work their way up the pitch in an optically smooth manner. The sheer amount of cleverness in midfield led to some cracking counters. Some nerves were on display during the first half-hour of their 2-0 opening group stage win against South Korea. After Catalina Usme converted the 1-0 from the spot in the 30th, however, the South Americans proceeded to dominate the match. Fan support for the Colombians inside the stadium was also surprisingly strong. Always a pleasure to watch chanting fans whip their team into a frenzy.
Abadia’s tactics mostly resemble a clear-cut 4-2-3-1 on the overhead. It does appear as if captain Daniel Montoya sometimes folds in underneath her midfield partner and the shape reverts into a deliberate 5-1-2-2. The Colombian manager probably drills his girls in some set tiki-taka plays on the training pitch. One divines the accents of a seriously deep footballing mind in some of this team’s forward movements. Such echoes also exist whenever observing the set-piece designs. They are top-notch. The squad nearly scored from dead-balls twice, including once from the half-way line.
Lineup—Colombia—Match One (4-2-3-1)
This female-footballing sentimentalist must first declare himself so very pleased to catch up with some of his old favorites. The presence of the Colombians was sorely missed during the 2019 tournament. To watch Catalina Usme, Daniela Montaya, and Carolina Arias in action again was an enormous privilege. Usme – the country’s leading female footballing figure and leading goal-scorer – has matured into a tireless worker and marvelous leader. She organized her ranks well and produced a couple of quality efforts.
Naturally, the player that all of us couldn’t wait to get a closer look at this tournament is 18-year-old Wunderkind Linda Caicedo. Real Madrid’s newly-secured talent didn’t disappoint! Always involved in the attack from well-selected positions, the teenage talent recorded two assisted shots and peeled off half-a-dozen scintillating runs. South Korean Yoon Young-geul might have done a little better on Caicedo’s 39th-minute tally, but the Colombian’s run, cut, and shot demonstrated just what a special talent she is.
The latest news on Caicedo is regrettably rather dark. She’s had a history of cardiac-related health problems. During a Thursday training session, the phenom collapsed on the deck after grabbing her chest. Video of the incident – especially gruesome – has been making the rounds on German television. Caicedo lays on the turf for several long minutes while her teammates shield her from the cameras in scenes hauntingly reminiscent of the Christen Eriksen’s collapse two years ago.
Colombian media outlets are currently reporting that she completed the training session after a short treatment break. A major Colombian daily, El Tiempo, the “all-clear” has been sounded. The scenes nevertheless cannot help but imbue one with a feeling of dread. Hopefully, the team’s medical staff will make the right call.