WWC Review: Germany 2-1 Canada

June 27th, 2011 | by: Anne | Comments Off

Written by guest blogger Clarissa

Germany has played their first game of the Women’s World Cup against Canada. Germany won two goals to one, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the German ladies.

Germany coach Sylvia Neid pulled off a big surprise before the game by giving Celia Okoyino da Mbabi a place in the starting line- up. Okoyino da Mbabi replaced striker Inka Grings, and thus played the lone striker up front, something that had really not been expected. In the first half, Canada had more possession but Germany was able to take the lead with a Kerstin Garefrekes header, after the Canadian defense lost its bearings. Celia Okoyino da Mbabi scored the second goal just a few minutes before half time, a great goal for the young player, who will turn 23 just this week.

In the second half Germany clearly dominated the proceedings and had many great chances, but failed to put any of them away. This was punished eight minutes before the end, when the Canadian captain Christine Sinclair struck a sweet free kick directly into the corner. German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer had no chance on reaching that. Despite these last shaky minutes, Germany managed to see out the game without conceding another and bagged its first- if slightly unconvincing- win of this tournament. One of the things that still mystifies though is the bad form of Lira Bajramaj, who was subbed in in the second half but really failed to convince.

Germany takes on Nigeria next. I watched the France- Nigeria match and was not really impressed by the Nigerians; they look like they might be the weakest team in the group. Still, no time to get complacent, a win would go a long way to settle nerves before the last game against the strong French.

The game also was a great success off the pitch. The atmosphere in the stadium was great (even Blatter was not booed), and around 14 Million people in Germany watched on TV.

While I think that Germany should have taken the chances better, the tension actually was good for the game. It was not a 5-0 or 6-0 blow- out, but a relatively even contest, similar to the France- Nigeria game. The competitive at the top of the women’s game certainly seems to have improved which is really good if you look at the development of women’s football as a whole. Nobody needs 11-0 blow- outs, like it happened at the Germany- Argentina game in 2007, which was just an embarrassment to women’s football.

Anyways, on to the next match!

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