During the second week of July, a handful of Women’s Under-20 friendlies were contested, including matches that separately involved Mexico and Canada, plus Germany, who will be the United States’ final group opponent in August’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup.
Mexico traveled to Argentina and beat the hosts in two friendlies, by 1:0 and 3:1 margins. Canada is in Europe and played Italy on Saturday, winning 3:0.
On Sunday, Germany hosted Norway and defeated the guests 5:0, which was slightly better than the 7:1 drubbing Germany gave the Norwegians in last year’s UEFA Women’s U-19 Championship final, but much worse than the two sides’ 1:1 draw in a friendly at La Manga earlier this year.
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FRIENDLY RESULTS
July 10th: MEXICO 1, ARGENTINA 0.
MEX Goal: Samarzich (80′, assist by Chrystal Martínez)
See Also: FMF write-up (brief, no line-ups).
Remarks: The AFA has no write-ups on their website for either ARG/MEX friendly.
July 13th: MEXICO 3, ARGENTINA 1.
MEX Goals: K. Sánchez (11′ free kick), A. Martínez (32′), Rangel (40′ PK?).
ARG Goal: n/a.
See Also: FMF write-up (a more typical write-up, with MEX’s line-up, etc.).
Remarks: Santa Clara’s Sofia Huerta appeared to have a good match, at least during the opening 15-20 minutes. (Huerta was in the U-20 USWNT as recently as January and only joined Mexico’s squad in May or June.)
July 14th: CANADA 3, ITALY 0.
CAN Goals: Richardson (2x), Exter.
See Also: CanadaSoccer brief write-up (no line-ups).
July 15th: GERMANY 5, NORWAY 0.
GER Goals: Lotzen (23′), Marozsán (36′, 76′ PK), Magull (69′), own goal (72′).
See Also: DFB write-up, DFB box score, NFF write-up w/ box score, FanSoccer.de write-up, with photos, Framba.de write-up.
Remarks: See the next section for analysis of Germany. Concerning Norway, they were suppose to release their U-2o WWC roster today, but the coach has decided to postpone that announcement for two weeks, because the loss against Germany “raised more questions than answers” (NFF article, in Norwegian).
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NOTES: GERMANY’S FRIENDLY VERSUS NORWAY
Starting Line-Up: Based on the DFB box score, Germany lined-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Lena Lotzen as the lone striker, Dzenifer Marozsan as the central playmaking midfielder (the middle player in the “3” line), and Ramona Petzelberger, who had been used as a playmaking midfielder or withdrawn forward, apparently pushed all the way back to a defensive midfield spot (on the “2” line).
The starting line-up according to the DFB box score:
Benkarth (GK)
Maier (RB) — Wensing (CB) — Cramer (CB), Simon (LB)
Hendrich (HM) — Petzelberger (??)
Leupolz (RM) — Marozsán (AM) — Hegenauer (LM)
Lotzen (FW)
Also, Petzelberger, who is listed as a forward, was subbed out in the 56th minute and replaced by another forward, Nicole Rolser.
So, either head coach Maren Meinert tried something different for this match, or Germany lined up in a different formation. The latter would appear to be more logical, with the most likely formation being a 4-4-2 or one of its variations, such as the 4-4-1-1:
Benkarth (GK)
Maier (RB) — Wensing (CB) — Cramer (CB), Simon (LB)
Leupolz (RM) — Hendrich (HM) — Marozsán (AM) — Hegenauer (LM)
Petzelberger (FW)
Lotzen (FW)
Substitutions: Germany’s coach, Maren Meinert, made seven changes during the match, with the first three coming at half-time:
- 46′ – Annabel Jäger (MF), in for Carolin Simon (DF)
- 46′ – Silvana Chojnowski (MF), in for Kathrin-Julia Hendrich (MF)
- 46′ – Lina Magull (MF), in for Anja Maike Hegenauer (MF)
- 56′ – Nicole Rolser (FW), in for Ramona Petzelberger (FW)
- 56′ – Clara Schöne (DF), in for Leonie Maier (DF)
- 73′ – Sophie Howard (DF), in for Luisa Wensing (DF)
- 76′ – Karoline Heinze, in for Lena Lotzen
Camp Players Not Used: 24 players were called into the camp and 18 saw action in this match. The six who did not play were the two other goalkeepers, Anke Preuß and Lisa Schmitz, plus four field players: Katharina Leiding (defender), Isabella Schmid (midfielder), Marie Pyko (midfielder), and Ivana Rudelic (forward).
The U-20 WWC tournament roster will be 21 players, including 3 goalkeepers. Assuming that all 18 players who saw action in this friendly will make the team, that only leaves space for one additional field player, with midfielder Isabella Schmid being the most likely candidate. So, the…
…Likely U-20 Women’s World Cup Roster:
Goalkeepers (3): Benkarth, Laura (SC Freiburg); Preuß, Anke (FCR 2001 Duisburg); Schmitz, Lisa (Bayer 04 Leverkusen).
Defenders (6): Cramer, Jennifer (FFC Turbine Potsdam); Howard, Sophie (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim); Maier, Leonie (SC 07 Bad Neuenahr); Schöne, Clara (FC Bayern Munich); Simon, Carolin (Hamburger SV); Wensing, Luisa (FCR 2001 Duisburg).
Midfielders (8): Chojnowski, Silvana (FFC Frankfurt); Hegenauer, Anja Maike (SC Freiburg); Heinze, Karoline (FF USV Jena); Hendrich, Kathrin Julia (Bayer 04 Leverkusen); Jäger, Annabel (FSV Gütersloh 2009); Leupolz, Melanie (SC Freiburg); Magull, Lina (FSV Gütersloh 2009); Schmid, Isabella (SC Freiburg).
Forwards (4): Lotzen, Lena (FC Bayern Munich); Marozsán, Dzsenifer (FFC Frankfurt); Petzelberger, Ramona (SC 07 Bad Neuenahr); .Rolser, Nicole (SC 07 Bad Neuenahr).
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Germany’s next and final domestic camp is August 1st to August 5th, with a friendly against Sweden’s U-23 WNT on the 5th. (The team’s calendar page on DFB.de only listed “Schweden,” but a recent DFB.de interview with Maren Meinert notes that Sweden is sending their U-23 WNT.)
For more on Germany, see this fact file (compiled in early June), and their full roster for this camp, which just ended.
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