Lack of TV space upsets DFB squad
With the German women's national soccer team on Friday, ZDF is still getting top ratings, but on Tuesday ARD will still not have enough time for a TV slot. Instead, the DFB team will be streamed live because the men's cup matches are scheduled at the same time. The disappointment is great.
Interim national coach Horst Hrubesch regrets that the Nations League match between the German women's soccer team and Wales will not be broadcast on traditional television. "I would have liked it - especially for the girls. I think we would have deserved it to be broadcast live in this form," said the 72-year-old at the press conference ahead of the final group game this Tuesday (7.30pm/on ntv.de live ticker) in Swansea. The match will be shown in the ARD live stream on sportschau.de.
The players "simply deserve to be noticed for the quality of soccer they play and the performances they have put in recently," continued Hrubesch, adding: "I'm definitely looking forward to seeing lots and lots of people watching the girls on the live stream again."
Last Friday evening, ZDF showed the German team's 3:0 win over Denmark in prime time and achieved top TV ratings with an average of 4.298 million viewers. "Unfortunately, the women's Nations League match against Wales cannot be shown live on TV, as two DFB Cup matches, which are broadcast live on ARD, are scheduled at the same time," explained ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky to the "Bild" newspaper. "Unfortunately, another kick-off time was not possible."
Not only Germany fears for an Olympic ticket
The DFB women can take another step towards qualifying for the Olympics against outsiders Wales. Hrubesch's team go into the final Nations League preliminary round match as leaders of Group 3. A win against the bottom-placed team will secure the DFB women's qualification for the final round. The first leg ended 5:1 for the European runners-up. At the final tournament with four teams in February, two European teams can still win an Olympic ticket. France are seeded as hosts.
Hrubesch's charges are determined to take the next step four months after the historic World Cup debacle in Australia and the turmoil surrounding former national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. "It's important that we focus on ourselves and go into the game at full throttle," announced Klara Bühl from FC Bayern.
"It's not a walk in the park either," warned Marina Hegering. The VfL Wolfsburg defender will not be able to help overcome this final hurdle due to a yellow card suspension. Laura Freigang will also be missing; the Eintracht striker left the game on Sunday due to groin problems. Hrubesch announced that there would be "one or two changes" in addition to Hegering, without giving any further details.
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Source: www.ntv.de
