With a 1-0 win over New Zealand in the quarter-finals, Germany’s women’s hockey team made it into the Final Four of the World Cup. After the unnecessarily exciting final phase, the joy is huge.
With the next minimalist victory, the German women’s hockey team made it into the semi-finals of a world championship for the first time in twelve years.
The sixth in the world rankings won his quarterfinals against New Zealand 1-0 (1-0) in Amstelveen and made it more exciting than necessary. Lena Micheel scored the winning goal with her first tournament goal in the 17th minute.
“The knot has now burst. I’m just happy, it doesn’t get any better than that,” said the striker from UHC Hamburg. Now she is traveling with her team to the World Cup finals in Terrassa, Spain, where she will meet the winner of the quarter-finals between Argentina and England on Saturday evening. “I’m just proud and excited to see who’s coming as an opponent,” added Micheel.
As in the 1-0 win against South Africa in the round of 16, the Germans could have decided the game early on. With 33:9 circle entries, 15:3 shots on goal and 10:2 penalty corners, the EM runner-up was again clearly superior, but made too little of his chances. “We played an incredible amount, defended very well and were extremely close to the goal,” said national coach Valentin Altenburg.
His team went offensive from the start and had their first big chance in the ninth minute when Micheel failed at the post. Pauline Heinz (29’/38′) could have made it 2-0 twice, but first she hit the post and then put the ball over the goal. These negligence threatened to take revenge when Olivia Merry (41′) narrowly missed the equalizer with New Zealand’s first penalty corner.
In the final section there was a nail-biter that was avoidable from a German point of view, in which goalkeeper Nathalie Kubalski distinguished herself several times while being outnumbered three times. “It still felt safe because we could rely on the defensive,” said Altenburg.
Already this Wednesday, the Germans are leaving their World Cup quarters in the Netherlands for Spain. “Tomorrow at 12 noon the bus will pick us up from the hotel and then we’ll be curious what the chaos at Schiphol Airport has in store for us,” said striker Charlotte Stapenhorst in a good mood.
