First half scares: Woe betide the DFB team if it plays like this at the European Championship

The DFB women's team will be taking part in the European Championship in July. But the team coached by national team coach Christian Wück is in a state of worrying fluctuation. The match against Austria was a clear victory, but Wück sees a frightening amount of work ahead of her.

"We were not aggressive at all, we showed little passion on the pitch, little intensity." Christian Wück was fed up. His team was "very, very naive in the duels," said the national coach of the DFB women's team after the Nations League match against Austria. His team had just won 4:1 in Nuremberg. It was Wück's first home win as head coach, having previously only managed away wins. And yet he and his players could not be satisfied.

The result reflects little of what happened in the Max-Morlock Stadium. Anyone who missed the first half might think that it was a very decent game by the Germans, who dominated the Austrians. 16 shots on goal to 3, 59 percent possession, 3 goals by DFB players. They created space on the field, free space for runs, for crosses, and were dominant and confident.

It is the half-time that gives us hope for the European Championship, which will take place in Switzerland in July. It is the half-time that shows that the DFB team can have a say in the battle for the title. That must be the aim as the reigning European runners-up and as eight-time title holders.

European Championship lurks on the horizon

But as we all know, a football match doesn't start until the 46th minute. And it was the first half that made Wück angry: "You don't have to worry too much about how far you'll go in the European Championships." The match had just kicked off when Austria took the lead. She threw in, lost the ball, and Lilli Purtscheller quickly pulled away, passed the ball across to Annabel Schasching from SC Freiburg, who scored past goalkeeper Stina Johannes. 0:1 after less than three minutes.

The goalkeeper was playing her third international match, as Sophia Winkler suffered a serious knee injury - it is believed to be a cruciate ligament tear - and then Ann-Katrin Berger was out with an infection. In the five-way battle for the European Championship goal, she did not initially receive much help from her teammates. None of them could keep up when Austria got off to a dream start. "The goal still annoys me immensely," said Wück at the press conference after the match.

Germany has never lost a game against its neighbouring country, or even drawn. Most recently, they were 2-0 down in the European Championship qualifiers in Linz, but managed to turn the game around to win 3-2. But what the DFB team offered in the next 35 minutes did little to encourage the belief that the series would continue in the sixth encounter. "I was not at all happy with the first half," said Wück. "It was not what we had planned and not what the team is capable of." His newly appointed captain Giulia Gwinn put it even more bluntly: "We just failed completely. That's why we have to work through it as a team. And then simply be more present as a whole team."

Gwinn: "We need neck slappers"

Hardly anything went forward, the players seemed nervous, losing ball after ball incredibly quickly against the high-pressing Austrians. "Austria pressed us from the start, they were fully there in the duels, put us under a lot of pressure," said defender Janina Minge. "We knew that they would try everything to make the game difficult for us," said the new deputy captain - and yet her team had no way of countering them. Minge herself also made a mistake and put her goalkeeper in serious trouble. Johannes played a pass to her, she passed back, but failed to see Purtscheller from SGS Essen running in. Johannes from Eintracht Frankfurt had to fight for the ball, shot at Purtscheller, but luckily the ball flew wide of the goal. Only a corner, not the 0:2.

Gwinn summed up: "We always need that slap in the face when we fall behind. We don't start the game well, we lose a lot of duels, we're always one step too late. We're not really there with our heads." Her team had already fallen behind early on against the Netherlands last Friday, but still fought back to make it 2-2. What Gwinn also noted: "One positive thing is that we always come back. We should keep that up."

Before half-time, Laura Freigang scored the previously flattering 1:1 after a set piece (39th minute). A long ball from Klara Bühl was passed to Freigang by the new central defender Rebecca Knaak, who only had to score. This was also because Lea Schüller obstructed Austria's goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger so much that she could no longer get to the ball - but this was not punished.

The goalscorer was out of action at half-time, Linda Dallmann came on for her, and Sjoeke Nüsken made way for Sara Däbritz. Two experienced players - Dallmann made her debut in 2016, Däbritz in 2013 - who brought calm to the ball possession phases without slowing the game down, as Wück praised. It was Dallmann who then put the DFB team in the lead (55th minute). A shift to the right was initiated by Jule Brand before she moved inside and passed into the path of the goalscorer, who shot the ball through Zinsberger's legs. 2:1 - lead and increasingly less resistance from the Austrians. The DFB women took control of the game, had more offensive actions because the defense got access to the Austrians.

After game change, landslide victory takes its course

"The Austrians always had a player who was free and they could dribble towards us. We changed that, we pressed a little differently. That worked much better and our substitutes played a really outstanding game," said Minge about the changes at half-time. Wück did indeed have a knack for it. In the 62nd minute he swapped Schüller for Giovanna Hoffmann, who scored her first international goal after just eight minutes. Dallmann was able to intercept a pass from Laura Feiersinger and cross the ball to Hoffmann on the edge of the penalty area, who celebrated her debut. 3:1 (70th minute). And the 4:1 (82nd minute) was also scored by a substitute - Vivian Endemann had only been on the field for three minutes.

"The victory was deserved in the end," Wück concluded. After the draw against the Netherlands (2:2) and the clear victory, the DFB team leads the Nations League group. In April, the two duels with the third group opponent Scotland are scheduled - that should be a clear matter, but it only helps to a limited extent in getting ready for the really big duels at the European Championships. Because even if defender Felicitas Rauch says they have to perform under pressure in the Nations League, the defending champions from England or the Spanish world champions are a different caliber.

And so the conclusion of the rather sobering Wück was: "I realized that there is still a lot of work ahead of us."