Women’s Euro 2025 | Germany’s Semi-Final Tactical Primer | OneFootball

A highly entertaining and engrossing 2025 UEFA Women’s European Championship rolls on! Christian Wück’s German women’s national team – have adequately submerged themselves in plenty of “Per Mertesacker Style” Ice Baths – hope to continue their improbable tournament run against World Champions Spain in Wednesday’s second semi-finall. Germany’s Frauennationalmannschaft (or Fußballnationalmannschaft der Frauen as we Germans technically refer to it) look to reclaim European glory by punching their ticket to their second consecutive European Final and a re-match against England.

Nothing about Germany’s journey in this competition has proven easy. Squad captain Giulia Gwinn was lost to a medial ligament injury in the opening match. Gwinn’s replacement Carlotta Wamser then incurred a red card in the third group stage fixture. In need of a third right back, Wück moved Linder over to the right for the quarterfinal match against France.. Linder promptly injured herself moments after kickoff. Another red card incurred by defender Kathrin Henrich then forced the DFB-Frauen to fight shorthanded for 115 minutes.

A historic effort from Wück’s Mädels enabled Germany to draw the French, then advance to the semis via a dramatic penalty shootout. Matters nevertheless don’t get any easier. The Germans must find a way past an exceptionally strong Spanish team well overdue for a good performance against them without two injured and two suspended actors. Linder remains out alongside Gwinn. Hendrich and newly elevated vice captain Sjoeke Nüsken are banned.

The two highest ranked European nations in the world get set for an epic battle. Can a banged up German side really hope to de-throne a healthy Spanish team that features (in Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmati) the winners of the last four female Ballon d’ors? Some recent matches in major international tournaments might appear to give the Germans a fighting chance. Our latest GGFN piece begins with a short historical overview.

Does the recent past matter?

No. Not in football. Not really much in life either. Watching the German team defeat France on penalties Saturday night certainly conjured up some interesting nostalgia. This author shall certainly never forget the time he covered the France-Germany quarterfinal match in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. The memory of Claire Lavogez’s tears after missing the crucial take entered his mind as the shoot-out began. Somehow, this bit of history suggested that the German women would prevail in the PSO again.

In any event, something like that constitutes nothing more than a useless trick of the mind. The present moment remains all that matters. As keeper Ann-Kathrin Berger confirmed after the shoot-out victory, sometimes the pre-match research isn’t even relevant. Berger flatly stated that she didn’t study the cheat-sheet on her water bottle. Granted, some Getty Images caught her at least giving it a glance and the DFB egregiously denied that Hendrich pulled Griedge Mbock Bathy’s ponytail, but the author digresses.

Germany’s three recent wins against Spain in international tournaments possess absolutely no relevance whatsoever. An author responsible for covering all of them shall gladly explain why. The Spanish press recently placed a creative spin on the concept of Germany as a “bogey team” by labelling Germany “el eterno ogro” (“the eternal ogre”). The author reminds readers that neither “bogey teams” nor “ogres” exist. Moreover, there remains little point in fearing an ogre that just spent three days in an ice bath.

2019 Women’s World Cup: Germany 1, Spain 0

This was, simply stated, a highly tactical affair that proved a hard watch. The Germans required quite a bit of time to get clicking in this tournament. Young Giulia Gwinn served as one of the few bright spots in the opening two group stage fixtures. The center back pairing of Sara Doorsoun and Marina Hegering struggled throughout. The Spaniards of the time – though they did have Jenni Hermoso – weren’t a coherent attacking force, as evidenced in part by the fact that they couldn’t get past Germany.

Jorde Vilda’s team scored in just two of their four tournament fixtures. Signs that something special for the future world champs were apparent. Young Alexia Putellas and Patricia Guijarro were among those that gave the eventual champion USWNT their most difficult test of the tournament in a Round-of-16 loss. Only a pair of Megan Rapinoe penalties carried the Americans over the emerging global power. Too many of the Spanish mega-talents nevertheless stood in their embryonic development phase.

2022 Women’s Euros: Germany 2, Spain 0

This one proved just plain weird. Vilda appeared to get his tournament tactics sorted out following a late pre-tourney injury to Putellas, yet couldn’t prepare himself for the fact that Alexandra Popp (in on late notice for COVID positive Lea Schüller) would surge despite her own injury issues. Hegering – by that point in her prime – delivered her own beastly performance. The Spanish team of this tournament had Bonmati and she was pretty damn good at the time, but she was a little inconsistent in this competition due to way too many personnel rotations on the top axis.

In many respects, one came out of this match sensing that the scoreline flattered a tad. It’s worth noting that the German team also featured a healthy Lena Oberdorf sweeping up midfield traffic along with in-form recent retirees like Svenja Huth and Lina Magull. Neither Oberdorf nor any of the players serving in then Bundestrainerin Martin Voss-Tecklenburg’s back-four are actively available for the forthcoming fixture. Klara Bühl is the only member left of the last XI projected to start. A different time indeed.

2024 Olympics: Germany 1, Spain 0

Victory in a third-place match isn’t entirely irrelevant here as Berger did preserve the win with a dramatic late penalty save. Moreover, the German women fought extremely hard to keep their Spanish opponents at bay in interim Bundestrainer Horst Hrubesch’s farewell match. The Germans dug deep to withstand constant pressure in the final 30 minutes and Berger’s save on Putellas remained epic. The match nevertheless didn’t possess much of a flow for long stretches as players sought to avoid injury.

Furthermore, the Gwinn-penalty that ended up proving the match-winner came on a somewhat fluky play. Both Bonmati and Teresa Abelleira found themselves unlucky not to score with strikes of the aluminum. An affair mostly lacking in quality and odd occurrences only really sprung to life when time began to run out. Typical of a third-place match. Lessons prove as irrelevant as the opening hour in this case.

Onwards to the tomorrow’s tactics:

Projected Lineups

Germany: 5-4-1/4-1-4-1

Inferring Wück’s starting XI isn’t too terribly difficult. Using the players he has available to him, the Bundestrainer should attempt to replicate his original match-plan from the quarterfinal fixture. The author will note that plenty of German press sources project different personnel selections. Some feel that Janina Minge should remain in central defense while Sara Däbritz works as the midfield pincer. Others believe Elisa Senß should move to the bench while longtime club-mates Sydney Lohmann and Linda Dallmann work as double eights.

Based on the number of minutes logged by attacking wingers Jule Brand and Klara Bühl, there’s also no shortage of those believing that either Laura Freigang, Selina Cerci or even Cora Zicai should be rotated into the top attacking axis. Of course, All genuine football lovers adore this phase of tournaments precisely because of all the varied speculation. In the Bundesrepublik especially, debates rage on for hours in all the coffee shops and at all the kiosks. The author nevertheless sees it this way:

Projected Lineup–Germany (5-4-1)

Minge reprises her role as a “Lena Oberdorf Mimic”. Sophia Kleinherne earns a start based on three criteria. Firstly, Kleinherne is a center back by trade. She improved steadily in her role as an as impromptu right back over the course of the last match. Next, the DFB has accorded the 25-year-old plenty of press attention in the last few days. Finally, Wück – assuming he’s worth his salt as a German Bundestrainer – will also ideally wish to keep the crew that battled through the trenches together.

There seems to no reason why Wamser shouldn’t slide back into the right back slot. The new Bayer 04 Leverkusen signing excelled in her role prior to the unfortunate red card in the group phase. The author’s sincerely crafted “love letter” Franziska Kett can be found in the previous piece. Nothing more to add there. Lohmann stands as the most balanced payer available to fill in for the suspended Nüsken. No sense in taking too many risks against the absurdly talented Roja Feminina.

Serving as a curator of the bloody obvious, the author stresses the need for the team to remain compact and focused on breaking up the Spanish short-passing game. Those considering watching this match must be warned that it probably won’t produce the most attractive football. Anyone who hasn’t been following the women’s game much in recent years might want to take a look anyway. The game has grown much more physical. Fans of crunching tackles will want to tune in. So many tightly contested duels await us here.

Spain: 4-3-3

The Spaniards continue to line up in a 4-3-3 formation, the very same basic precept that enabled them to conquer the world in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Admittedly, the author hasn’t been as deeply entrenched in this tournament as in years past. Some potential injuries or tactical proclivities from new trainer Monté Tome might have eluded him. To the author’s knowledge, only a suspension to central defender Laia Aleixandri alters the previous construct. Real Madrid’s Maria Mendez slots in.

Projected Lineup–Spain (4-3-3)

Ordinarily this would be the time to discuss specific positional battles, but the problem therein concerns the fact that every centimeter matters in this case. The primary reason why Minge must serve in the midfield relates to the fact that she’s desperately needed to lead the press against Guijarro. Obviously enough, how the makeshift German fullbacks (nine caps between) them shall deal with their more experienced Spanish counterparts (114 caps) remains intriguing.

Okay, perhaps more “frightening” than “intriguing”.

That leads us to:

The Tip:

Spain 2, Germany 1

In true German fashion, the author shall seek to temper expectations. Tipping the exact same score-line in the quarterfinal fixture of last summer’s Euros, didn’t exactly ease the pain when it came true. Such pain still hasn’t fully subsided, though that has more to do with Julian Nagelsmann making worse tactical decisions than Jog Löw’s opening set of ideas against Italy in the 2021 European semis. Damn it all to hell!

Where were we? Oh right. This match. Giovanna Hofmann’s dogged work up front should be good enough for one goal. Overall, however, this Spanish side simply exudes positional superiority everywhere. A tired German squad can hardly hope to hold off a squad that specializes in tiring out its opponent for a full 90 minutes, particularly not after that last match. Putellas and Bonmati punch through eventually.

One assumes that (after missing two penalties in the previous fixture) the Spaniards devoted at least one of their extra days of rest to drilling and thus maintain the advantage there as well. Difficult seeing it come down to a shoot-out, however. Tomé’s team have scored 15 (!!) goals in this competition. They’ll break through in extra time if need be. Germans know full well that the line between fairy-tales and horror stories is a fine one.

Myths such as “Bogey teams” (or “ogres” if one prefers) exist to ultimately be dispelled. The eight-times-European champions (last crowned in 2013) hardly qualify as invincible at this point anyway. German hopes were high entering this tournament. Our dreams then received an unexpected second wind when circumstances thrust the DFB-team into the unexpected role of Cinderella.

Cinderella must still go home at some point.

We can live with that.

We’re not the ones still mad at Marc Cucurella.

That’s water under the bridge.

GGFN | Peter Weis