The German Women’s national team played host to Japan in an international friendly match at the Benteler-Arena in Paderborn on Tuesday afternoon. Both sides had to settle for a 2-2 draw as the two teams gear up for the forthcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019.
Germany went into the game with the comfort of a 2-1 away win against Sweden in another high-profile friendly match last Saturday, while Japan had to cope with a 3-1 defeat against World Cup hosts France last Thursday.
The first half at the Benteler-Arena turned out to be a half with a lot of individual mistakes on both sides, while Japan was the more dominant side. Germany head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s 4-2-3-1 formation displayed a solid defensive play to keep their box sorted.
But Japan suddenly opened the scored sheet courtesy to a blunder by Germany goalkeeper Almuth Schult in the 35th minute. A pass by Schult found Japan’s Yui Hasegawa who chipped the ball over the goalkeeper to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Germany looked much better organised in the second half and bounced back in the 53rd minute as captain Alexandra Popp’s header found the back of the net.
Almuth Schult had a poor day in office as she produced a second goalkeeping blunder in the 69th minute to give away another goal to Japan. Kumi Yokoyama took advantange of the mistake and made it 2-1 in favour of the Asian powerhouse.
Germany didn’t surrender in front of 4,804 fans and once again levelled the score line. Svenja Huth scored hit the target in the 72nd minute as Germany increased the pace to put more and more pressure on Japan in the final moments of the game.
But the home side was lucky not to concede another goal as substitute Pauline Bremer denied Japan the winner with a goalline tackle in the 90th minute.
DFB TV match higlights
Instagram Posts
Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an
Follow me on Social Media