MArtina Voss-Tecklenburg has confirmed that Alexandra Popp plays a key role in her plans for the World Championships in the summer. “I’m assuming, if ‘Poppi’ is healthy, that she will definitely contest this World Cup with us,” said the 55-year-old national soccer coach on Wednesday: “I have no other information and would be surprised if I would get any other information.”
The 31-year-old VfL Wolfsburg player had recently refused to publicly admit that she would take part in the tournament, which will be held in New Zealand and Australia from mid-July.
She justified her reluctance with the injury problems she also had to deal with in the run-up to the European Championships on the British Isles last year and that, regardless of all expectations of her person, she would primarily listen to her “gut feeling”.
Alexandra Popp is a mainstay in Wolfsburg.
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Image: dpa
The 124-time national player, who shot the German team into the European Championship final against hosts England as a striker with six goals in five games, for which she then failed due to a muscle injury, is a “full professional”, said Voss-Tecklenburg, and added confidently to: “Alex doesn’t arrive five minutes before the start of the World Cup and says: Ätschibätsch, now I won’t play anymore.”
“Exciting Year”
Popp is also part of the squad that Voss-Tecklenburg nominated for the first test match of the World Cup year. On February 21 (6:15 p.m. on ZDF), the German selection will meet Sweden, third in the world rankings, in Duisburg. In the hometown of Voss-Tecklenburg, Popp’s international career began in February 2010 with her first international match. In a few days she is now facing her 125th appearance in the jersey of the German Football Association (DFB).
So far, 14,000 tickets have been sold for the encounter with the Scandinavians. “We’re happy that an exciting year is about to start,” said Voss-Tecklenburg, who, like before the European Championships, “locked himself in” with her coaching staff in the Black Forest for half a week for detailed planning.
On his own behalf, Voss-Tecklenburg showed patience. The fact that the planned extension of the cooperation with the DFB, which was limited to August, has not yet taken place is also due to the internal changes caused by the resignation of managing director Oliver Bierhoff. “We are in talks, everything is fine,” she said, emphasizing that “it will certainly not be the case that we only extend a contract after the World Cup”.
Voss-Tecklenburg took over the task from Horst Hrubesch in 2018, previously she was in charge of the Swiss selection. For the next preparation phase of the Germans in April, a home test match against Brazil is “under consideration”, announced team manager Maika Fischer.