A stunning first half strike from Kenza Dali condemned Germany to a second recent defeat to a major European rival. While the match was only a friendly, it offers coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg food for thought.
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg is preparing Germany for a delayed EurosImage: Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
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France 1 - 0 Germany, Stade de la Meinau
(Dali 30')
Another year to prepare for the Euros may be gratefully received by Germany after all, after they fell to defeat at the hands of one of their major European rivals for the second time in four games.
Recent wins against Australia and Norway will not have erased the memory of defeat to the Netherlands earlier this year and another loss, albeit to a sensational strike, leaves Germany coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg much to ponder.
"Nobody disappointed," she said of her players after the game. "Everyone tried to contribute fully. Still, we have to get better, and we'll continue to work on that. These are all learning processes."
Voss-Tecklenburg shuffled her pack a little without appearing to weaken her side too significantly, relying on a core of players from title winners Bayern Munich.
Profligate and punished
After a cagey opening, an incisive pass from Linda Dallman gave Svenja Huth a golden opportunity to break the deadlock on 20 minutes but the experienced striker failed to get any power on her strike as she tumbled under minimal pressure.
The home side were finally stung in to action and took the lead 10 minutes later through Kenza Dali. The West Ham United midfielder appeared to pose little threat 25 yards out and running horizontally and away from the German goal. But she dug out a powerful drive that dipped over Merle Frohms.
France beat their European rivals in StrasbourgImage: Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty Images
The goalscorer seemed to pull something around the midriff in the act of scoring and was replaced soon after. Pain almost followed for Germany too when Dallmann dwelt on the ball in her own half, allowing Grace Geyoro a free run on goal, only for Frohms to win the one-on-one battle.
Geyoro gave Germany another scare early in the second half before France's Bayern star, Viviane Asseyi, and her German clubmate Klara Bühl exchanged scorching solo runs that fizzled out at the finish.
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Time to improve
Despite the class of the French side, Voss-Tecklenburg continued to chance her arm, giving another half an hour to Hoffenheim 18-year-old Jule Brand, who made such an impact against Australia in her debut in April. The teenager almost made a similarly striking introduction on Thursday, but couldn't keep a header down with her first touch.
In truth, the visitors failed to create any genuine opportunities in the second half and failed to score in a match for the first time since 2018. But, unlike her male counterpart Joachim Löw, who faces the same opposition in the men's Euros on Tuesday, Voss Tecklenburg has time on her side.
"Overall, we saw a lot of sequences from which we can take quite a lot," she said. "We can gain a lot from this for the next tasks."
50 years of women's football in Germany
As incredible as it sounds today, women's football was once banned in Germany. Since October 31, 1970, when the DFB lifted the ban, Germany has become a leading nation in women's football. Here's a look back.
Image: picture alliance / Pressefoto Ulmer
Ignoring the ban
In 1955 the German football association (DFB) issued a ban on the country's football clubs forming women's teams. Football is "essentially alien to the nature of women," it said in a statement justifying the move. "In the battle for the ball, female grace disappears, body and soul inevitably suffer damage." This didn't stop determined women, like this team in Minden, from playing football anyway.
Image: Leonie Albig-Treffers/picture-alliance
Game on in the East
The DFB's ban on women's football only applied to West Germany. In East Germany, the women were free to play. However, in 1969 the SED, East Germany's ruling communist party, decides that only men's football would be funded and promoted as an elite sport. The East German women's national team would play just one game, losing to the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 3-0 on May 9, 1990.
Image: FSU-Fotozentrum/picture-alliance
Discriminatory ban abolished
Fifteen years later, the DFB's opposition to women playing the beautiful game crumbled. Here legendary Bayern Munich and West Germany striker Gerd Müller (second from right) tosses the coin before officiating a July 1970 women's match to raise funds for the Deutsche Sporthilfe (German Sports Aid Foundation). On October 31, 1970, the DFB officially abolished the discriminatory ban imposed in 1955.
Image: Parschauer/dpa/picture-alliance
A first for Stuttgart's Neckarstadion
It wasn't long before women were playing on the same fields where only men had been allowed. Here, TSV Öschelbronn face Spielvereinigung Weil im Schönbuch in the first-ever women's match at Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart's home ground, the Neckarstadion. TSV Öschelbronn won the match 3-1.
Image: Michael Dick/picture-alliance
First woman to win German TV's 'Goal of the Month'
However, the DFB still refused to form a women's national team. "This was clearly a setback," remembers West German women's football legend Bärbel Wohlleben. "We were only allowed to play two halves of 30 minutes too." Her club, TuS Wörsstadt won the first official German women's title in 1974. Her goal in the final against DJK Eintracht Erle was voted "Goal of the Month" by viewers of ARD TV.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Bergisch-Gladbach: World champions!
SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09 soon emerge as the dominant team in West German women's football, winning nine national titles and three DFB Cup titles between 1977 and 1989. Not only that, but they also represent West Germany at an international invitational tournament in Taiwan, winning what was then seen as the unofficial women's world championship in 1981 and 1984.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Witschel
First match, easy victory
In 1982, the DFB finally gives up its opposition to the formation of a women's national team. On October 10, 1982 the West German women win their first-ever international 5-1 over Switzerland. SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09's Silvia Neid, who would go on to a successful spell as the head coach of the German women's national team, scores a brace.
Image: Sven Simon/picture-alliance
First official international title
In 1989 West Germany hosts the Women's European Championship. The West Germans beat Italy on penalties in the semifinal – the first women's game broadcast live on West German TV. They follow this up with a 4-1 victory over Norway in the final. Here, Julia Nardenbach, Petra Damm and Doris Fitschen (from left) celebrate with the trophy. Germany's women have since won seven more European titles.
Image: Sven Simon/picture-alliance
Siegen win first Bundesliga title
In 1990, the DFB established the Women's Bundesliga, just before reunification, making the 1990-91 season an all-West German affair. Two former East German teams joined the following season. The Bundesliga was split into north and south divisions, with the winners of each qualifying for the final. The first Women's Bundesliga champions were TSV Siegen. The two divisions were merged in 1997.
Image: Imago Images/Horstmüller
German and European domination: 1. FFC Frankfurt
The first European champions were 1. FFC Frankfurt. Here, Nia Künzer (center) is in action against Umea IK in the final of the 2002 UEFA Women's Cup. Frankfurt would go on to win two more in 2006 and 2008. By the time they won the 2015 title, the competition had been remained the Women's Champions League. They also dominated the Bundesliga, winning seven titles between 1999 and 2008.
Image: Frank May/dpaweb/dpa/picture-alliance
Germany's first World Cup champions
In 2003, the German women win their first World Cup title, beating Sweden 2-1 in the final played in Carson, California. Nia Künzer's header in the 98th minute was the Golden Goal that gave Germany the title. As was also the tradition for the men at the time, the world champions were welcomed home with a reception at Frankfurt City Hall, where they were feted by thousands of fans.
Image: Michael Probst/AP Photo/picture-alliance
Birgit Prinz: Three-time Women's Footballer of the Year
The Golden Boot winner with seven goals in six matches was superstar striker Birgit Prinz. She was named World Women's Footballer of the Year three times from 2003 to 2005 and was also named Germany's Women's Footballer of the year eight times. When she hung up her boots in 2011 she had 214 caps and 128 goals to her name, more than any other national team player – woman or man.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Another first
At the 2007 World Cup in China, Germany become the first team to defend a Women's World Cup title – and do so in impressive fashion! Their record is incredible: Six wins and a draw, 21 goals scored, none against. Led by their captain, Birgit Prinz, Germany beat Brazil 2-0 in the final. The bad news is that Germany's women have never reached a World Cup final since.
Image: picture alliance / Pressefoto Ulmer
First Champions League champions
Prior to the 2009-2010 season, the UEFA Women's Cup was rebranded the UEFA Women's Champions League. Another German team would lift the new Champions League trophy. 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam beat Olympique Lyon in a penalty shootout in the final in Getafe – becoming European Champions for a second time after 2005.
Image: Alberto Martin/dpa/picture-alliance
Striking Olympic gold in Rio
Two years after the German men won the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro's legendary Maracana Stadium, the German women beat Sweden 2-1 in the final of the women's 2016 Olympic tournament to win the gold medal in the same venue. This was the first time that Germany had won gold, having had to settle for Olympic bronze medals in 2000, 2004, and 2008.
Image: Reuters/U. Marcelino
Silvia Neid: All there was to win
The 2016 Olympic gold medal in Rio is Silvia Neid's crowning achievement. Having won the European Championship three times as a player, Neid took over as national team coach in 2005. She would lead the team to the 2007 World Cup title, European Championship titles in 2009 and 2013 and finally to Olympic gold in 2016. Three times she was named FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football.
Image: Getty Images/F.Coffrini
Dominant Wolfsburg
Currently, the dominant team in German women's football are VfL Wolfsburg. Alexandra Popp (photo) and the rest of the women's Wolves have won the double in each of the past four years. Since 2013, the club has won the Bundesliga six times and the DFB Cup seven times. In addition, the club has won the Champions League twice (2013, 2014) and lost in three more finals.
