For the first time ever, the DFB will be represented by two teams at the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. In preparation for the tournament, a meeting and a dinner between the Women's and Men's team was scheduled. Head coaches Silvia Neid and Horst Hrubesch have known each other for a long time and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere with their players. Two football teams forming a unit to represent Germany at the Olympic Games.
Neid and Hrubesch have another theme in common: For both, the 2016 Olympic Games will be the last big task in their careers at the DFB. They spoke to DFB.de about their final highlight as coaches, their expectations about the Olympic Games and the state the teams are in currently.
DFB.de: Mrs. Neid, Mr. Hrubesch, the Olympic Games will start for your teams in just a few days. How excited are you?
Silvia Neid: We are all very excited of course. We are well prepared after four weeks of training and can hardly wait for the tournament to begin.
Horst Hrubesch: Is there anything else I can add to that? Overall I can just agree. Unfortunately we didn't have as much time to prepare for this tournament, but there's nothing to be done about that. The lads are looking forward to the challenge and most of them already knew that we were planning to take them along. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and they prepared themselves accordingly. The lads are fit and are working very hard in training - yesterday they even wanted to have an extra session. It's a lot of fun to work with them.
DFB.de: It will be the last tournament in charge of a team for both of you. Do either of you feel any regret, that the Olympic Games will mark your final challenge after such long careers at the DFB?
Neid: Not at all. I enjoy every single day and the time I'm given with my team. Our goal is to win the gold medal and we will do everything we can to achieve that. I'm not thinking about what will happen afterwards yet, but I do look forward to working in a different area of Women's football. I played my last game at the 1996 Olympic Games and now I will have my last game as a coach at the Olympics - the circle will be complete.
Hrubesch: I don't feel any regret either. I always say that me and my players only think from game to game and our next focus is on the Olympics. If possible, we want to win all of our matches there. I don't know what will happen afterwards. I will think about it during my vacation, after we have hopefully gone a long way in the Olympic football tournament.
DFB.de: This will be the first time that two German football teams will participate at the Olympics. During the preparation for the tournament, both teams met and had dinner together. What was that event like?
Neid: It was a really great evening. I think Horst and I had hoped that it would play out like that. The players from both teams got along great and mixed together at different tables. They exchanged experiences, laughed a lot and got to know each other. That's how we had planned it.
Hrubesch: If it had been up to us, this event would've gone long into the night, but the players had to go to bed at some point. It really was a great evening and it was just wonderful to see the teams get along so well. We said then, that we hope to get together in the same constellation in the Olympic village with both teams having secured a medal for Germany.
DFB.de: The women have Zimbabwe, Australia and Canada in their group, while the men face Mexico, South Korea and Fiji. What are your expectations for these first games?
Hrubesch: No points will be handed to us freely at this tournament and we have to produce top notch performances. Our first game will be against the 2012 Olympic Gold medal winners. Although they have a completely different team now, we know that Mexico is a tough opponent. But we want to force our game onto them and play dominantly. We want to act, not react. That has always led to us producing our best performances. We have a strong squad and with skipper Leon Goretzka, Timo Horn and the Bender twins we have an axis of leading players.
Neid: Our approach will also be to play dominant football and dictate our games. We had a lot of variation in our training and were able to execute various different systems. We can play with a single striker, but also with two or three players up front. In our first game against Zimbabwe we will play with a 4-3-3 formation.
DFB.de: Finally, we want to get back to the mutual dinner, where not only the two teams got along great. You too have known each other for a long time it seems...
Neid: Yes, that's true, we've known each other for a long time. When Horst was being schooled to become a coach we had a seminar together with the Women's national team and just for fun we played a game against the participants of this seminar.
Hrubesch: I can still remember that quite well. And since working together at the DFB we've met often at various congresses.
[mmc/fr]
For the first time ever, the DFB will be represented by two teams at the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. In preparation for the tournament, a meeting and a dinner between the Women's and Men's team was scheduled. Head coaches Silvia Neid and Horst Hrubesch have known each other for a long time and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere with their players. Two football teams forming a unit to represent Germany at the Olympic Games.
Neid and Hrubesch have another theme in common: For both, the 2016 Olympic Games will be the last big task in their careers at the DFB. They spoke to DFB.de about their final highlight as coaches, their expectations about the Olympic Games and the state the teams are in currently.
DFB.de: Mrs. Neid, Mr. Hrubesch, the Olympic Games will start for your teams in just a few days. How excited are you?
Silvia Neid: We are all very excited of course. We are well prepared after four weeks of training and can hardly wait for the tournament to begin.
Horst Hrubesch: Is there anything else I can add to that? Overall I can just agree. Unfortunately we didn't have as much time to prepare for this tournament, but there's nothing to be done about that. The lads are looking forward to the challenge and most of them already knew that we were planning to take them along. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and they prepared themselves accordingly. The lads are fit and are working very hard in training - yesterday they even wanted to have an extra session. It's a lot of fun to work with them.
DFB.de: It will be the last tournament in charge of a team for both of you. Do either of you feel any regret, that the Olympic Games will mark your final challenge after such long careers at the DFB?
Neid: Not at all. I enjoy every single day and the time I'm given with my team. Our goal is to win the gold medal and we will do everything we can to achieve that. I'm not thinking about what will happen afterwards yet, but I do look forward to working in a different area of Women's football. I played my last game at the 1996 Olympic Games and now I will have my last game as a coach at the Olympics - the circle will be complete.
Hrubesch: I don't feel any regret either. I always say that me and my players only think from game to game and our next focus is on the Olympics. If possible, we want to win all of our matches there. I don't know what will happen afterwards. I will think about it during my vacation, after we have hopefully gone a long way in the Olympic football tournament.
DFB.de: This will be the first time that two German football teams will participate at the Olympics. During the preparation for the tournament, both teams met and had dinner together. What was that event like?
Neid: It was a really great evening. I think Horst and I had hoped that it would play out like that. The players from both teams got along great and mixed together at different tables. They exchanged experiences, laughed a lot and got to know each other. That's how we had planned it.
Hrubesch: If it had been up to us, this event would've gone long into the night, but the players had to go to bed at some point. It really was a great evening and it was just wonderful to see the teams get along so well. We said then, that we hope to get together in the same constellation in the Olympic village with both teams having secured a medal for Germany.
DFB.de: The women have Zimbabwe, Australia and Canada in their group, while the men face Mexico, South Korea and Fiji. What are your expectations for these first games?
Hrubesch: No points will be handed to us freely at this tournament and we have to produce top notch performances. Our first game will be against the 2012 Olympic Gold medal winners. Although they have a completely different team now, we know that Mexico is a tough opponent. But we want to force our game onto them and play dominantly. We want to act, not react. That has always led to us producing our best performances. We have a strong squad and with skipper Leon Goretzka, Timo Horn and the Bender twins we have an axis of leading players.
Neid: Our approach will also be to play dominant football and dictate our games. We had a lot of variation in our training and were able to execute various different systems. We can play with a single striker, but also with two or three players up front. In our first game against Zimbabwe we will play with a 4-3-3 formation.
DFB.de: Finally, we want to get back to the mutual dinner, where not only the two teams got along great. You too have known each other for a long time it seems...
Neid: Yes, that's true, we've known each other for a long time. When Horst was being schooled to become a coach we had a seminar together with the Women's national team and just for fun we played a game against the participants of this seminar.
Hrubesch: I can still remember that quite well. And since working together at the DFB we've met often at various congresses.
