Germany head coach Martina Posteclenburg called it a “worst-case scenario” after her side were knocked out of the group stage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 by South Korea.
Germany, ranked No. 2 in the FIFA rankings, played to a 1-1 draw against South Korea (No. 17) in their third Group H match at Brisbane Stadium in Australia on Wednesday.
Colombia and Morocco (W2 D1 L1) finished first and second in Group H to advance to the Round of 16. Germany was eliminated in the group stage for the first time in the tournament’s history.
“It’s not the result we expected,” said Posteclenburg in his post-match press conference, “In the end, scoring was the most important thing and we didn’t score. We had our chances. But we didn’t score.”
“It’s hard for me to comment on the game right now,” he said, adding, “South Korea took the lead, but I don’t know why we didn’t get the result after that.”
He added, “We didn’t score more than the goal that tied the game at 1-1. We have to take responsibility,” he said, adding, “We will analyze the game and talk among the players.”
After conceding a goal six minutes into the match through So Hyun Cho, Germany responded with a header from goalkeeper Alexandra Pope in the 42nd minute.
However, despite pushing forward, they were unable to turn the game around, and the players were left frustrated on the field when the final whistle blew.
“I don’t want to make excuses,” said Posteclenburg, “but it’s time to re-evaluate everything. We have to take this result objectively,” he said.
“It was the worst case scenario, no one expected this.”
Germany also failed to reach the round of 16 at the 2018 Men’s World Cup in Russia, losing 0-2 to South Korea in their final group game.
At last year’s World Cup in Qatar, they fell to third place in their group behind Japan and were also far from the round of 16.
With this in mind, when a German 스포츠토토 journalist pointed out that “there are endemic problems in both men’s and women’s soccer,” Posteclenburg replied, “People in Germany really love this sport, but we have to accept these results. We will analyze it again.”
Ace Pope, who also found the back of the net against Morocco and Colombia, said in the post-match press conference, “I need some time now. We need to look back at how we played,” Pope said in the post-match press conference.
“I think we have to try to find our confidence again. We worked hard, but we didn’t play well against Colombia and Korea.”
Germany reached the final of the European Women’s Football Championship (Women’s Euro 2022) in England last year.
The German press asked, “What happened to the enthusiasm you showed in England last year?
Pope responded, “If I knew why it happened, I would have done better. I’m sorry. I can’t answer that.”