Germany vs China: Title contenders aim to start tournament off with a bang
Germany will be looking to start their World Cup campaign off on a high note as they take on China on Saturday afternoon.
Die Nationalelf are viewed as one of the major contenders for the trophy this summer, despite not having won it since 2007. With the men’s team hardly covering themselves in glory last summer, the women’s side will be looking to restore some pride for Germany as they look to become the second team after the United States to win three World Cup titles.
They come into this tournament in solid form, and are unbeaten in their last 12 games, including friendlies, with wins in ten of them. Notably, they defeated hosts France, as well as Sweden and fought back twice to secure a two-all draw with Japan since new coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg formally took over.
Germany will certainly be fancying their chances against China. For starters, they have never lost to the Steel Roses, and will be gunning for a tenth straight win this Saturday. Additionally, they have yet to concede a single goal against the 1999 World Cup runners-up, out-scoring them by a whopping 24 goals to nil. That being said, the gap between the two sides has narrowed over the past few years, and so although China have yet to experience success, they are at least keeping the score-lines more respectable. All but one of their last four meetings ended as a 1-0 result – albeit, as noted before, in favor of Germany.
China, for their part, arrive in France with some mixed form. The Steel Roses dominated in two tournaments they staged: the Meizhou Four Nations Tournament and the Wuhan International Tournament . Yet, when pitted against tougher opposition in the Algarve Cup, they came up short. Furthermore, their attack seems to be stuttering at the wrong time, with just three goals scored in their last four games.
That really doesn’t bode well in their favor as they look to end their long, frustrating hoodoo against one of the giants of women’s football. They will be heavily relying on Wang Shuang, who had an excellent debut campaign with PSG. She’s the only non-China based player in her squad, and Wang, who represented the under-17 team at just 12 years old will be key to China having any sort of chance at getting out of this quartet. Germany may be a bridge too far, but certainly the Steel Roses will be confident they will pick up all three points against debutants South Africa, and will try to go toe-to-toe with Spain to grab a point there as well.
