She is only 21 years old but is already a large figure in the women’s national team. With two goals in two games at the Olympics so far she has played a large part in Germany collecting four points so far. We are speaking of Sara Däbritz. Her goal with the outside of her left foot just before the end of the first half impressed the fans, her coaches and her team mates.
“It’s obviously a very good feeling when you score but it’s even better when it helps the team,” said the FC Bayern München midfielder who was voted as “Player of the Match” against Australia. “It’s unbelievably fun playing football in front of so many people.” Against Australia there were almost 40,000 people in attendance. “Even if they aren’t all cheering for you the atmosphere really spurs you on,” Däbritz said.
Canada “have massively improved”
Silvia Neid’s team will play their final group match tonight (21:00 CEST), when they face Canada at 16:00 local time at the Estádio Nacional de Brasília Mané Garrincha in Brasilia. “We started strongly with the 6-1 win over Zimbabwe. The three points were very important,” said Däbritz. “We fought back from 2-0 down against Australia and showed good character to come away with a draw. The point was extremely important for us and now we are feeling good going into the Canada game.”
Canada currently lead Group F with six points from winning their two opening games. Germany are in second with four and Australia third with one. “Canada are a strong team that have improved a lot in the past few years. I’d count on a difficult, hard fought and close game,” said Sara Däbritz, who is feeling very comfortable in Brasilia, “My first impressions are very good. We were in an enormous city in São Paulo. The people there and here in Brasilia have all been very welcoming.”
“We are all working to our overall aim of winning a medal”
The midfielder from Munich is happy with the mood in the squad: “We all get along very well. The mixture of younger and older players is excellent. We are having a lot of fun together and are all working towards the overall aim of winning a medal.”
Taking part in the Olympic Games means a lot to Sara Däbritz. The 2014 U20 World Cup winner has experienced a rapid rise in the past few years, which is down to her hard work: “My overall aim has always been to play in the women’s national team,” she said.
She has already achieved that aim but is now trying to make herself indispensible. She remains modest though: “Despite having started the two opening games, I wouldn’t call myself a sure starter,” said Däbritz. “We have a very even squad. It’s important that you have a lot of options, especially when you are playing a match every three days.” The DFB women could qualify for the knockout rounds tonight, “Then,” Däbritz said, “we would be one step closer to our overall goal.”