Beaten semifinalists Spain and Germany battle for the Bronze at Lyon in the Olympics 2024 Women’s Football Tournament.
SPA-W vs GER-W Match Details
Date: Friday, 9 August 2024
Time: 15:00 (CET), 18:30 (IST)
Venue: Stade de Lyon, Lyon
SPA-W vs GER-W Match Preview
Spain’s dream of reaching the Olympic final in their first attempt ended with the 4-2 defeat to Brazil in the semi-final. Even though the world champions pulled two goals back towards the game, the deficit was too large to spark a comeback after they defeated Colombia on penalties in the last eight coming from 2-0 down. It was the first time since the 4-0 loss to Japan in the Women’s World Cup that the side conceded that many goals. The loss is no less a shock for La Roja who were slight favorites in the battle against an inconsistent Brazilian team without their legend Marta. Despite that, the Selecao eliminated host France in the previous round and picked up another huge result leaving Spain to fight for the only possible medal-winning chance left for them. A podium finish will still be a notable achievement after a year of dominance so the team will not want to miss another opportunity to shine. However, Spain has not won against Germany in the last five meetings, forcing them to change that record on Friday.
Even though Germany showed a rock-solid performance against the record Olympic Gold medalists USA, with goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger making an outstanding nine saves, their resistance was broken in the extra time by Sophia Smith’s winner. The 2016 winners suffered another loss in a major competition against the Stars and Stripes but the chance of ending in third remains. The Die Nationalelf managed the feat in three consecutive Olympics from 2000 to 2008 so it will be a familiar challenge for them. The team has performed impressively in the short stint under Horst Hrubesch. Winning the Bronze medal will be a perfect way to reward him as he signs off following the Olympics. Germany lost the star attacking duo of Lea Schuller and Alex Popp before the semifinals, costing them a lot and they are doubtful against Spain as well. The latter was also the scorer in the 2-0 win in the last meeting at Euro 2022 making it another tough challenge to go through at Lyon.
Recent Form
SPA-W: WWWWL
GER-W: WLWWL
SPA-W vs GER-W Predicted Lineups
Spain
Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Aleixandri, Carmona; Bonmati, Abelleira, Putellas; Caldentey, Hermoso, Paralluelo
Germany
Berger; Gwinn, Marina Hegering, Kathrin Hendrich, Felicitas Rauch; Sydney Lohmann, Sjoeke Nüsken, Janina Minge, Klara Bühl; Jule Brand, Laura Freigang
SPA-W vs GER-W Dream11 Match Prediction
Both teams had an intense semifinal to deal with so they will be cautious in their approach for the Bronze match. We expect a scoring 1-1 draw to play out with Spain winning on penalties.
SPA-W vs GER-W Dream11 Team Top picks
Captain Pick: Alexia Putellas
Vice-captain Pick: Salma Paralluelo
SPA-W vs GER-W Dream11 Team Suggestion
GK: Berger (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 208)
DEF: Gwinn (Cr - 9, Pts - 292), Hegering (Cr - 8, Pts - 224), Battle (Cr - 7.5, Pts - 204)
MID: Bonmati (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 202), Hermoso (Cr - 8, Pts -170), Putellas (Cr - 9, Pts - 250), Buhl (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 231)
FW: Caldentey (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 229), Brand (Cr - 8, Pts - 177), Paralluelo (Cr - 8.5, Pts - 241)
Vice-captain: Salma Paralluelo
Captain: Alexia Putellas
