Irene Fuhrmann:

“It was one of the bitterest evenings of soccer for us”

Irene Fuhrmann

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Led 2:0 - and still lost 3:2 to Germany in the end! For ÖFB team boss Irene Fuhrmann, her women's team's start to the European Championship qualifiers was "one of the bitterest evenings of soccer". Quotes from the game.

Irene Fuhrmann (Austria team manager): "It's one of the bitterest evenings of soccer for us. I think we dominated Germany in the first half. But they showed before the break that they have enormous quality. They were brutally effective. I'm really proud of the team, but we didn't come away with anything. There's obviously contact at the penalty, she (referee) gave it, we can't change it. Unfortunately, we didn't reward ourselves for a consistently strong performance. Germany are of course physically very strong, we invested a lot in the first half and they brought in fresh players. They punished our mistakes brutally. It will now take time to digest the result. But we have to build on this performance. It's crucial that we score in Poland."

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Eileen Campbell (Austria double goal scorer): "We let a 2:0 lead slip and it's bitter that we lost 2:3. But we managed to upset our opponents. We'll take that with us. We exerted a lot of pressure in the first half, that was the plan and it worked well. Maybe our batteries were empty at the end. It might look different if we went into the break 2-0 up."

Manuela Zinsberger (Austria goalkeeper): "From my point of view, it wasn't a penalty. But in the end it doesn't matter what I think. A goal is a goal. I'm extremely proud of the team and what we've achieved. We played Germany to the wall, especially in the first half. We knew they were effective. But there's still a chance for revenge in the second leg."

Horst Hrubesch (Germany team manager): "The decisive factor was that we knew what was coming and we didn't put up any resistance. We left them to it. We were 2-0 down and then more or less waited until half-time to react a bit. It was okay in the second half. We then came back, scored the first goal quickly and then the second afterwards. You don't necessarily have to give the penalty, I'll say that now. But in the end, we also had one or two opportunities to decide the game even more clearly in our favor after the 3:2. But at the end of the day, it wasn't what we wanted."