In the wake of Germany’s 1-0 victory over Nigeria in the final of the U-20 Women’s World Cup that secured a third tournament triumph, the German Football Association (DFB) General Secretary Helmut Sandrock, DFB Director of Women’s Soccer Steffi Jones and coach of the senior women’s side Silvia Neid all offered their congratulations before the celebrations got underway at the team hotel. At 18:55 this evening the champions’ flight will take off for Frankfurt, where they are due to land at 8:20 on Tuesday morning. Before the festivities began, DFB.de rounded up the thoughts of some of the key protagonists.
Maren Meinert: We wanted to play well at the tournament but we never imagined that we’d become world champions. I’m proud of my team and happy that we won, especially when you consider the opponents we had to face. It was a crazy final, just like our previous games. The way we defended today was superb.
DFB General Secretary Helmut Sandrock: It’s been a very successful year for German football, with the senior men’s side winning the World Cup, the U-19s lifting the European Championship trophy and now the women’s U-20 side being crowned world champions as well. It’s something very special to win three titles.
Senior women’s coach Silvia Neid: I’m delighted our U-20 women won the title and they achieved it with a great collective performance and excellent team spirit. Throughout the tournament they faced difficult opponents and to finish top of the group was far from a foregone conclusion. On top of that, beating the hosts in the quarter-finals and then reaching the final after defeating a strong French side was truly remarkable. Of course at the end of the day you always need a little bit of luck too and our team had that. A lot of the players who were born in 1996 will have the chance to play at another U-20 World Cup in two years and that will be important for their development. Furthermore, I’ve seen a few players who have the potential to make the step up to the senior women’s national team.
DFB Director of Women’s Soccer Steffi Jones: I’m very happy about the victory and it was a wonderful battling display against Nigeria. The team and the coaching staff deserve huge respect and the title is evidence of our good youth development.
Lina Magull: Ever since the final whistle I’ve been asking myself ‘are we really world champions?’ It’s slowly starting to sink in. Our team spirit was the key to our success and the side deserve so much respect. We just wanted to win it more and we deserve to be world champions.
Theresa Panfil: It’s indescribable, phenomenal that we’ve won the World Cup. It was an awesome game. I think we grew together as a team with each passing match, everyone fought for each other and nobody was above going the extra mile.
Manjou Wilde: I’m so relieved. It was a tough game and it’s been a taxing few weeks so I’m just happy now. We’ve grown so close together, partly because of the personnel losses we had in the build-up to the tournament. We fought for everyone who had to stay at home. We were absolutely determined to win the title and that’s what made the difference.
In the wake of Germany’s 1-0 victory over Nigeria in the final of the U-20 Women’s World Cup that secured a third tournament triumph, the German Football Association (DFB) General Secretary Helmut Sandrock, DFB Director of Women’s Soccer Steffi Jones and coach of the senior women’s side Silvia Neid all offered their congratulations before the celebrations got underway at the team hotel. At 18:55 this evening the champions’ flight will take off for Frankfurt, where they are due to land at 8:20 on Tuesday morning. Before the festivities began, DFB.de rounded up the thoughts of some of the key protagonists.
Maren Meinert: We wanted to play well at the tournament but we never imagined that we’d become world champions. I’m proud of my team and happy that we won, especially when you consider the opponents we had to face. It was a crazy final, just like our previous games. The way we defended today was superb.
DFB General Secretary Helmut Sandrock: It’s been a very successful year for German football, with the senior men’s side winning the World Cup, the U-19s lifting the European Championship trophy and now the women’s U-20 side being crowned world champions as well. It’s something very special to win three titles.
Senior women’s coach Silvia Neid: I’m delighted our U-20 women won the title and they achieved it with a great collective performance and excellent team spirit. Throughout the tournament they faced difficult opponents and to finish top of the group was far from a foregone conclusion. On top of that, beating the hosts in the quarter-finals and then reaching the final after defeating a strong French side was truly remarkable. Of course at the end of the day you always need a little bit of luck too and our team had that. A lot of the players who were born in 1996 will have the chance to play at another U-20 World Cup in two years and that will be important for their development. Furthermore, I’ve seen a few players who have the potential to make the step up to the senior women’s national team.
DFB Director of Women’s Soccer Steffi Jones: I’m very happy about the victory and it was a wonderful battling display against Nigeria. The team and the coaching staff deserve huge respect and the title is evidence of our good youth development.
Lina Magull: Ever since the final whistle I’ve been asking myself ‘are we really world champions?’ It’s slowly starting to sink in. Our team spirit was the key to our success and the side deserve so much respect. We just wanted to win it more and we deserve to be world champions.
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Theresa Panfil: It’s indescribable, phenomenal that we’ve won the World Cup. It was an awesome game. I think we grew together as a team with each passing match, everyone fought for each other and nobody was above going the extra mile.
Manjou Wilde: I’m so relieved. It was a tough game and it’s been a taxing few weeks so I’m just happy now. We’ve grown so close together, partly because of the personnel losses we had in the build-up to the tournament. We fought for everyone who had to stay at home. We were absolutely determined to win the title and that’s what made the difference.
Meike Kämper (best goalkeeper): An incredible evening and I’m overjoyed that we won. At the start only a few people thought we could do it. It’s a dream come true.
Felicitas Rauch: It was the most intense game of the World Cup and we’re very happy to have won the title.
Pauline Bremer: Everyone gave it everything and we had a little bit of luck on our side at the end.
Sara Däbritz: It’s an unbelievable feeling. We wanted to win the World Cup from the very start but nobody thought we would, but now we really are world champions.
Lena Petermann: I’m lost for words, it’s all so unreal that I’ll have to wait for it all to sink in. Our desire and team spirit were decisive.
