Written by Johnny Salinas
Winners of the 2003 and 2007 FIFA women’s world cup, the Germany women’s national team is seeking to win its third trophy at the 2015 FIFA women’s world cup. Germany will be entering the 2015 world cup ranked as the number 1 team in the world and have never ranked lower than 3 in the national FIFA women’s rankings (1). Along with being the number 1 ranked team entering the tournament, Germany’s player to watch is captain Nadine Angerer
Germany Women’s team ranking from FIFA (a)
Performance at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup
In the last edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Germany Women’s side failed to come out as champions on home soil after falling to eventual winners Japan in the quarterfinals. Having won the 2007 women’s world cup and being ranked second in the world, the German squad was a favorite to win the tournament. Needless to say, it came up as quite a shock when the Germans fell out early in the quarterfinals to Japan (2).
While Germany were reigning world champions and playing on home soil, their world cup campaign had a bit of a rough start. Being put in a group that featured two other teams that were ranked in the top 10 globally, Canada (6) and France (7), along with African powerhouse Nigeria (27), who were the reigning African Women’s Champions at the time, the group stage was by no means going to be a walk in the park for the Germans. The Germany women’s national team opened up their tournament campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against Canada’s women national team with goals from Kerstin Garefrekes and Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi. The German national side then just managed to hold off Nigeria to earn a 1-0 victory, being unable to capitalize despite having 6 shots on goal to Nigeria’s 1. It was in their final group game against France where the Germany women started to show their dominance, earning a 4-2 victory over their opponents to top their group (3).
2011 FIFA women’s world cup standings for group A from Wikipedia. (b)
Topping their group, the Germany women were set to face the runner’s up of group B, Japan, to commence the knockout stage. Following an intense and physical 90 minutes of regular time, both Germany and Japan had been unable to find the back of the net and had gone into extra time. Defeat came just 3 minutes into the start of the second half of extra time as Japan’s Karina Marayuma managed to slip one past Nadine Angerer and with that crush Germany’s hope of repeating as women’s world champions (4).
Post 2011 Women’s World Cup
2013 UEFA Women’s European Championship
Having failed to qualify for the 2012 summer Olympic games, the Germany National team qualified for the 2013 European Women’s Championship and looked to repeat as European champions. Just like the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Germany women’s national team entered the tournament ranked 2 globally. Germany opened up group play with a scoreless draw against the Netherlands. Following the opening draw, Germany managed to win their second group stage match 3-0 against Iceland in a very convincing manner. In their last group stage match, the Germans fell to Norway 1-0 and came in as runners up for their group (5).
Group B Standings from UEFA (c)
The knockout stages of the European champions were tough for the reigning champions. In their quarterfinal matchup Germany were set to face Italy, who had also come in as runners up of their group, where Germany would win after Simone Laudehr scored the only goal of the game. In their semifinal matchup, Germany faced hosts Sweden and won thanks to a goal from Dzsenifer Marozsán. In the finals, Germany played Norway for the European championship and won the rematch after Anja Mittag struck the back of the net just three minutes after being subbed in (5)
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
For the 2015 edition of the Women’s World Cup, the Germans have been given 4/1 odds of winning by Westgate (6) They will be entering the tournament ranked as the number 1 team globally.
Player to watch: Nadine Angerer
Image of Nadine Angerer from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/2011-08_Nadine_Angerer.JPG/640px-2011-08_Nadine_Angerer.JPG (d)
Nadine Angerer made her international debut in 1996, but did not become the starting goalkeeper for the national team until the 2007 FIFA women’s world cup, where she played a huge role in her teams success in winning the tournament (7). Since establishing herself as the first-choice keeper for the national team, Angerer has proven to be a consistent and important player for the Germany women’s national team. Angerer has led Germany to 2 European championships and 1 World Cup (7). She has worn the captain’s band for the Germans since 2011 and led them to a European championship while being named player of the tournament in the 2013 European Championship and being named the 2013 women’s world player of the year (8). Having started her career playing for FC Nürnberg in Germany, Angerer now plays for the Portland Thorns of the United States. Having won so many accolades, Angerer now looks to captain her country to her third world cup title.
Return to the Main Players to Watch Page
Works Cited:
1.”The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking – Associations – Germany – Women’s – FIFA.com.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/associations/association=ger/women/index.html
2. Press, The Associated. “Japan Stuns Germany at Women’s World Cup – CBC Sports – Soccer.” CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 09 July 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/japan-stuns-germany-at-women-s-world-cup-1.1019356>.
3) “FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.” FIFA.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/womensworldcup/germany2011/matches/index.html
4)”Germany – Japan, 2011 Women’s World Cup.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePK6l664UM
5). “UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 – History – Germany-Norway – UEFA.com.”Uefa.com. N.p., 28 July 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/season=2013/matches/round=2000178/match=2011602/postmatch/report/index.html
6) “2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Odds – USA Opens as Favorite.” Linemakers. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. http://linemakers.sportingnews.com/article/4635523-womens-world-cup-odds-2015-betting-lines-las-vegas-usa-germany-brazil-japan
7). “Nadine Angerer: – CNN.com.” CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/14/football/football-nadine-angerer-goalkeeper/
8. “Nadine Angerer: Women’s World Player 2013 Award Reaction.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaNo4Bs6mFk
Images
a) FIFA Ranking Germany.
http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/associations/association=ger/women/index.html
b)2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Group A Standings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup_Group_A
c) 2013 UEFA Women’s Euro Group B Standings
http://www.uefa.com/womenseuro/season=2013/standings/round=2000175/group=2001147/index.html
d)Nadine Angerer
How to cite this article: “Germany” Written by Johnny Salinas (2015), World Cup 2015, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/world-cup-guides/world-cup-2015-guide/players-to-watch-at-the-2015-womens-world-cup/germany/ (accessed on (date))
