Women

“You can only be successful as a team”

She-Wolves captain Alexandra Popp discusses the team’s training camp.

On the penultimate day of VfL Wolfsburg Women’s training camp, captain Alexandra Popp takes stock of the team’s 10-day stint in Portugal, looks ahead to the second half of the season and reflects on the She-Wolves’ togetherness.

Popp on…

…the past few days: “On the whole, I’m doing well. I’ve had a bit of a cold for a couple of days but we’ve worked really well here overall – and enjoyed the sun while doing so. In that sense, we’ve had a successful time here.”

…the conditions in Portugal: “The hotel and the food are fantastic. We can cycle to the training pitch in five minutes. Everything is right on our doorstep – not just an excellent pitch but also a gym, sauna and cold-water pool to use after training. Everything here is of a very high standard.”

…what’s been worked on in training: “We’ve focused on improving our movement patterns and our defensive positioning. But we were extremely good at that towards the end of the first half of the season anyway. We’ve been able to see the progress we’ve made, step by step. I think we’ll see a leap forward in our development in a couple of days when we reduce our workload a little.”

…expectations and aims for the second half of the season: “We need to be aware that it won’t get any easier. Every duel, every little detail and nuance matters when it comes to winning games. Obviously we want to stay in contention in all competitions.”

…the team’s sense of unity: “I think you can tell that we stick together, especially in decisive moments. Here at the training camp, a lot of us had dinner together, played cards or on the PlayStation together. That’s really important. In my experience, you can only be successful as a team. The team-building event where we went go-karting was a lot of fun and brought us closer together.”