The international break is now over and for VfL Wolfsburg Women, the upcoming weeks could be decisive ones both in the league and the DFB Cup. The Green-and-Whites travel to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for their cup quarter-final on Tuesday 5 March at the Dietmar-Hopp-Stadion (kick-off 18:30 CET). In the build-up to the fixture, head coach Tommy Stroot spoke to the media about…
…availability: “Lena Lattwein will miss out due to a knee operation and Diana Nemeth is sidelined with muscular problems. Apart from those two and Rebecka Blomqvist and Tabea Sellner, everyone else is fit.”
…the opposition: “Hoffenheim always have a great deal of quality and talent in their squad. They have a special way of executing their game plans. They like having a lot of possession and they switch positions a lot, which is something we’ll have to control. We need to focus fully on Hoffenheim if we want to win come the final whistle. It’s all or nothing and we want to come off the pitch as winners.”
…the cup game being scheduled after the international break: “We’re very happy with the DFB’s scheduling of this game. On Wednesday evening the girls battled really hard to secure qualification for the Olympics. It’s hardly ideal if you then have to play again at the weekend in an important league or cup fixture, having only had one or at most two training sessions, as is the case in other leagues. So with that in mind, we’re very happy that the cup game isn’t until Tuesday and that the players have some time to get settled again.”
…the upcoming fixtures before the next international break in April: “It’s one of the most decisive periods, no question. We’ve got two games against Hoffenheim, we face Bayern at home and there’s also the cup semi-final during this time. So it’s a period that’s really going to be decisive for all the objectives we’ve set ourselves. We’re coming into a stage where we need to be fully focused on winning.”
