Despite a 2-1 defeat in front of over 34,000 fans against Norway, you can see many happy faces among the national team stars. Understandable, say Johan Djourou and Marisa Wunderlin in the home game on blue Sport and talk of a "total emotional chaos".
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- After the 2-1 defeat against Norway, many of our national team stars have a positive summary and a smile on their faces.
- This has absolutely nothing to do with a lack of ambition, say expert Marisa Wunderlin and national team sports coordinator Johan Djourou.
- "There's probably total emotional chaos among the players," says Wunderlin. Djourou says: "The women have every right to be proud of their performance. But in the end, it's the result that counts in football - and of course everyone is disappointed."
A 2:1 defeat in the European Championship opener against Norway despite taking the lead and having more chances. But instead of frustration and anger, there were plenty of smiles on the faces of our national team players after the final whistle.
Former national team assistant coach Marisa Wunderlin can understand it. "There must be total emotional chaos among the players," she says. "On the one hand, there's the great performance, especially in the first half. I haven't seen such a dominant national team in a long time, the full stadium, the fan march and the enthusiasm, and then the result."
"So many people saw how good it was"
Naturally, people were torn, Wunderlin continued. "All of these players had situations in their careers where they were laughed at. In which they were asked why they were playing football at all. And then you play in this setting and think: Wow, this is it now. That's exactly how it should feel, including how you perform. You're proud and at the same time you've lost."
As the national team's sports coordinator, Johan Djourou is naturally right in the middle of it all. He sees it the same way as Wunderlin. "Many people smiled at women's football - and now so many people have come and seen how good women's football is."
If you look at the game, Djourou continued, it was a really strong performance. "The women can rightly be proud of that. But in the end, it's the result that counts in football - and of course everyone is disappointed."
"If they're alone for five minutes, they're sure to be disappointed"
The occasional happy faces should certainly not be interpreted as a lack of ambition, "as soon as they have five minutes to themselves, they are certainly disappointed," says Wunderlin. And Djourou agrees with her. "They were," says the former national team defender. But the focus must immediately turn to the future. "Coach Pia Sundhage found words of encouragement and praise after the final whistle when she brought the team together in a circle."
The national team did not arrive at the Hotel Seepark in Thun until after 2 a.m., and the players immediately disappeared to their rooms, says Djourou, with only the staff sitting together briefly.
From now on, the focus is on Iceland. "We lost the first game. We have to put that behind us and look ahead immediately. We have to take the emotions with us and repeat the enthusiasm and performance in the games against Iceland and Finland."
