The matter was clear. Inka Grings and Switzerland lost to Spain without a chance. The German coach criticised her team, but still takes a lot of positive things back to Europe.
Generally, from the Swiss national team’s point of view, the following was true after this 1:5 in the World Cup’s round of 16 opener: “We can be proud of how we presented ourselves, especially in the preliminary round.” This was the opinion of Inka Grings, the German national coach of the Swiss national team.
However, the former striker, now 44 years old, was critical of the clear defeat against the Spaniards. “I just expect more aggressiveness in a game like this,” she said on ZDF. Her team did manage to equalise 1-1 early in the game thanks to a bizarre 40-metre own goal by Spain’s Laia Codina, but after that “we completely lost ourselves,” said the coach.
2025 beckons the home European Championship
Against a resilient Spain, who responded strongly to their 4-0 defeat by Japan and deservedly progressed to the quarter-finals. Grings included this in her World Cup summary. They were eliminated by an opponent who was “a class above today”. “The Spanish had an extremely good day and showed us the limits. Before that, Switzerland had survived the group stage without conceding a goal and achieved the minimum goal that other football nations such as Brazil or Germany failed to achieve. “The team really played extremely concentrated and focused in the preliminary round. We won our group with aplomb,” said Grings, adding with a view to the 2025 European Championship at home: “I think this is a good step, certainly for our future as well. “
Tears at Thalmann
Tears were shed by goalkeeper Gaëlle Thalmann after the final whistle. The 37-year-old is ending her national team career after 109 caps and will not be at the European Championships in Switzerland in two years’ time. “I am sorry that we could not show a better performance. I would have been very happy to quit in a different way,” she said.
