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Marina Hegering and three more return to Germany WNT squad

DFB Deutscher Fußball-Bund - DFB-Frauen (German Women's national team)

Following a long-term injury break, Marina Hegering is finally back in the Germany women’s squad. Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has called up FC Bayern München’s defensive boss as part of her 26-woman squad for the two World Cup qualifiers on November 26th in Braunschweig against Turkey and November 30th in Faro away to Portugal.

Alongside Hegering, Chelsea FC goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, Lena Oberdorf of VfL Wolfsburg and fellow FC Bayern player Klara Bühl have also returned to the squad. Due to either injuries or rehabilitative training, TSG Hoffenheim’s Paulina Krumbiegel, Alexandra Popp and Pia Wolter of Vfl Wolfsburg and FC Bayer München’s Sydney Lohmann are all absent from the side.

On their first opponent in ten days’ time, Voss-Tecklenburg said: “Against Turkey, we’re going up against an opposition who we expect will sit deep and make life difficult for us with a big defence. We’ll have to find our way through with creativity and skill, but we will also need to have a lot of patience to get past them.”

The final international game of 2021 sees the Germany women’s team travel to face second-placed Portugal. Coach Voss-Tecklenburg emphasised: “We see Portugal as our toughest challenge in the group. They have developed very well in recent years, as they have proved so far in this competition. The Portugese will come out with a lot of self-confidence and bravery against us, but our aim will not change. We want to take two wins from these last two games of the year and go into the next break with maximum points.”

Germany are currently leading World Cup qualification group H with 12 points from a possible 12 and a goal difference of 20 to 1. Alongside Germany, group H also contains Turkey, Portugal, Israel, Serbia and Bulgaria, and only the winner of each group will qualify automatically for the 2023 finals, to be held in Australia and New Zealand. The second-placed teams in each group will face each other in playoffs to decide the two remaining places.

(DFB)