Football: Start of World Cup qualifying: DFB women whirl against Slovenia

Goal for a debutant

Vivien Endemann (6th minute), Elisa Senß (11th), Linda Dallmann (48th), debutant Larissa Mühlhaus (53rd) and Lea Schüller (71st) scored the goals, but the hosts also missed a few chances. The DFB women will continue against Norway in Stavanger on Saturday (6 p.m./ZDF). The third opponent on the way to the World Cup is Austria. Only the first group winner qualifies directly for the tournament – that’s exactly what the Wück team is aiming for.

After Klara Bühl was out (muscle injury), Wück almost completely rebuilt his offensive: Wolfsburg’s endman played on the left for the FC Bayern winger. Jule Brand returned from the ten to the right side, but Munich’s Dallmann moved to the playmaker position.

England professional Martinez in the starting line-up

Somewhat surprisingly, Shekiera Martinez from West Ham United started up front for the first time. The 24-year-old moved well, but despite several opportunities, she was unable to score her first goal in the third international match.

After Giulia Gwinn led the DFB team onto the pitch as captain for the 20th time, gaps quickly opened up in the visiting team. Slovenia had never taken part in a major tournament and went into the European elimination as underdogs.

Slovenia quickly overwhelmed

An opening pass from Dallmann also made it 1-0 early on – Endemann pushed the ball past goalkeeper Zala Mersnik. Shortly afterwards, Senß took advantage of the next chance to score. In contrast to the two Nations League finals against the world champions from Spain (0:0/0:3) at the end of the year, the German women had an easy game this time.

Dallmann in particular, with her technique and overview, was obviously good for the German selection. The Slovenians around Werder Bremen captain Maja Sternad quickly seemed overwhelmed. But the DFB team once again sloppily finished and didn’t make enough use of their superiority afterwards.

Goalkeeper Berger has to prevent 1:2

So Endemann initially missed the overdue 3-0 in front of Marsnik. And goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger had to save with her foot against Zara Kramzar shortly before half-time.

After the change, the DFB women increased the pressure again. Dallmann decisively increased the score to 3-0. Substitute Mühlhaus from Werder Bremen then took advantage of a blocked shot from Sjoeke Nüsken and hit the crossbar to make it 4-0.

Schüller scores after being substituted on

After a good hour, Schüller was also allowed to take part: The striker, who moved from FC Bayern to Manchester United during the winter break, had big plans for the start of the year. After a pass from the strong Endemann, she promptly scored her 55th goal in her 83rd international match. In stoppage time there were chants of “Oh, how beautiful that is” from the stands.