Concern in Germany over Lena Oberdorf’s injury ahead of Paris Olympics

Admin I Thursday, July 18, 2024

 

BERLIN – Lena Oberdorf’s knee injury has overshadowed Germany’s convincing 4-0 victory over Austria in their final match before next week’s start of the Paris Olympics tournament.

Key midfielder Oberdorf got stuck in the turf 70 minutes into Tuesday’s match and had to be substituted. She was in big pain and examinations later on Wednesday are to determine the exact nature of the right knee injury.

The German team is set to fly to Marseille on Sunday, with the first match four days later there against Australia. The 2016 gold medallists also face record winners United States and Zambia in the group stage.

Should Oberdorf not be able to play it would be a huge blow for the team, with coach Horst Hrubesch saying post-match it would “hurt a lot” if she missed the Games.

“I am am hoping and also ready to pray that it is nothing serious and that we can perhaps get her to the Olympics after all,” Hrubesch said.

Oberdorf had a great match until her injury as Germany rebounded strongly from last week’s 3-0 defeat in Iceland in the final Euro 2025 qualifier against the Austrians.

Klara Bühl opened and closed the scoring, with Jule Brand and Lea Schüller on target in-between for the Germans who had clinched their place at next year’s finals in Switzerland prior to the two games.

“This gives us confidence and courage for the next matches,” Bühl said.

Hrubesch added: “For me it was about the players showing what they can do and showing a different face than they did in Iceland. It was important for us to get a positive result.”