Laura Freigang<\/strong> is a clever, elusive No 10 who thrives by breaking forward into the box to meet crosses, taking advantage of Schuller occupying defenders to pop up unannounced and finish smoothly. An incredibly consistent performer in German league football, this could be the tournament when she explodes into an international superstar.<\/p>\nWhat is their biggest strength?<\/p>\n
Familiarity, for various reasons. In Germany\u2019s six-game Nations League campaign between February and June, Wuck selected a fairly consistent starting XI. His players are chiefly drawn from Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt. Many of the players have risen through Germany\u2019s youth ranks together. And, more than most other sides at this tournament \u2014 apart from, perhaps, Spain \u2014 there is an obvious identity to the side, based on efficiency at transitions and attacking with speed.<\/p>\n
What weakness might other teams be able to exploit?<\/p>\n
The defensive positions. Left-back Sarai Linder has spent the past couple of seasons playing that role for Wolfsburg, but she was previously used as a right-back or a midfielder, and is very much right-footed. The desperation to find a left-footed option means Bayern 20-year-old Franziska Kett has often been deployed there, but she emerged as an attacker, and using her in defence against top-quality opposition would be a risk.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, centre-back Janina Minge played in midfield for Wolfsburg for much of last season \u2014 and indeed at the Olympics last summer. Her most likely partner, Rebecca Knaak, has played the majority of her football either in midfield or as part of a three-person defence.<\/p>\n
None are bad players, but given Gwinn\u2019s attacking nature on the right, you wonder whether Germany have the rugged, old-school defensive qualities that a tournament-winning side usually offers.<\/p>\n
Any notable absentees?<\/p>\n
Tough-tackling defensive midfielder Lena Oberdorf was named as the young player of the tournament at the Euros three years ago, but after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury last July, she has missed an entire year of football and will not feature this summer. Given Germany\u2019s issues at the back, her absence is a big blow.<\/p>\n
In all, it feels a very different side from the one that experienced such disappointment in Australia two years ago \u2014 legendary striker Alexandra Popp, fellow attacker Svenja Huth, midfielders Lina Magull and Melanie Leupolz, defenders Marina Hegering and Sara Doorsoun, and goalkeeper Merle Frohms have all retired from international duty.<\/p>\n
What is their strongest starting XI?<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Germany_.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
How have they performed over the past 12 months?<\/p>\n
Pretty well. Germany topped a relatively weak qualifying group, although there was a surprise 3-0 loss away in Iceland, and it took until their sixth and final game to keep a clean sheet. In this year\u2019s Nations League, they drew 2-2 away in the Netherlands, then won five on the bounce.<\/p>\n
What are they expected to achieve at these Euros?<\/p>\n
With their history in this competition, Germany always believe they are a contender, and are likely to progress to the quarter-finals. They would, however, then meet a side from Group D (France, England, the Netherlands and Wales), clearly the toughest in the competition. At that point, their defensive weaknesses might be exposed.<\/p>\n
Did you know?<\/p>\n
Germany have good recent memories of playing in Switzerland \u2014 they thrashed the Euro 2025 hosts 6-0 in a November friendly at the Letzigrund in Zurich. They will return to that stadium for the final group game, against Sweden, after playing matches in Basel and St. Gallen, both located very close to their own country.<\/p>\n
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There have been 13 editions of the women\u2019s European Championship, and Germany have won eight. They came close…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[2000,299,1824,22172,84559],"class_list":{"0":"post-212206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-uk-womens-football","12":"tag-womens-euros"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114742108180892894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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