“For women’s football in Germany, it is important that we do well and be successful there. We have to take the next step in public awareness in women’s football,” said the 30-year-old from VfL Wolfsburg in an interview on the DFB website. Easiest if we can win the title as much as possible in England – ideally.”
The DFB selection failed in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup in Sweden and therefore missed the Olympic Games in Tokyo. National coach Martina Vos-Tecklenburg’s team’s abilities are hard to gauge for Pope, who last went missing due to a knee injury. “I think we have developed well. But I find it difficult to give accurate forecasts. In qualifying we did not have opponents who really gave us challenges,” said Pop.
The 2016 Olympic champion awaits a four-nation tournament in England in February. “We meet absolutely the top teams in Spain, Canada and England. After that we are all smart,” she said. “Basically, though, I think we are much ahead of the 2019 World Cup in France, for example.”
The 111-time national player wants to be part of the Bundesliga at the start of the new year in February and then has six months to “get really fit”. England will be his first European Championship, “so I’m really looking forward to it. Until now, unfortunately, I’ve always been injured before the European Championships and couldn’t be there.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211227-99-514298 / 2
