Football at the 2024 Olympics: Germany women take bronze after beating world champions Spain

Germany's footballers won the coveted Olympic third-place medal against world champions Spain with plenty of drama in the final. For coach Horst Hrubesch, the bronze medal win on Friday (August 9, 2024) was a successful end to his long career.

“We are gathering all our strength once again for third place and a medal” – this was the motto with which coach Hrubesch and his team entered the sixth and final match of the tournament after the unfortunate 0-1 semi-final defeat to the USA. And that is exactly what the DFB women did in a packed Lyon stadium: they fought for a narrow 1-0 (0-0) win over the world champions with full commitment and all their might. And just before the end, goalkeeper Ann-Kathrin Berger was responsible for this, saving Alexia Putellas' penalty kick in stoppage time (90+9).

Gwen: “We gave ourselves the greatest gift.”

“We did our best – and we have a great goalkeeper,” said Julia Gwinn, scorer of the goal and winner, after the final whistle. “We're really happy for the coach. He got a farewell present. But we gave ourselves the biggest present.”

This is the fourth Olympic bronze medal for the German footballers after 2000, 2004 and 2008. The DFB team won gold in Rio in 2016 – current captain Alexandra Popp was also there then, and now has a “double medal package” in her possession. “In a way, you can’t have more offense. We simply have a ‘penalty machine’ in goal. It’s simply unbelievable. I’m very happy,” Popp tried to put her feelings into words in an interview with Sportschau. She left open whether she would continue with the national team: “We’ll see where the journey takes us.”

Coach Horst Hrubesch retires from football

However, Horst Hrubesch's coaching career is definitely over: The 73-year-old interim national coach cheered loudly and successfully for his team for the last time from the bench from the start of the match until the final whistle. The bronze medal with the DFB players is the culmination of his four-decade career as a football teacher. After the summer break, Christian Wück will take over as national team coach.

Hrubesch won the Olympic silver medal with the German men’s team in Rio 2016 – and before the bronze match he said how much he wanted “the girls to win a medal. I already have one.” And the players repaid their coach with the favour. In return, there was a huge celebration among all involved after the final whistle shortly before 5 p.m. “I have to congratulate the girls: what they invested was fantastic,” Hrubesch said in an interview with Sportschau, praising his team’s performance throughout the tournament. “If you watch those 90 minutes, we deserved the medal.”

Tough game in the first half

In the first round the match was a bit of a waiting game. Both teams used a compact defensive formation against the ball in a 4-4-2 formation – and quick transitions to the attackers were rare if at all possible. Although the DFB showed no respect for the world champions, they could hardly make their progress when moving forward. A shot from 16 metres from Klara Pohl straight at goalkeeper Kata Coll (19) and an equally harmless finish from Marina Hegering after a free kick (42) were the only actions in front of the Spanish goal.

The Iberian players rarely take shooting positions, but their chances until the end of the first half were more prominent: Teresa Abileira hit the crossbar with a free kick from 30 metres (21), and world footballer Aitana Bonmati scored a free after one of the few fluid groups from 16 metres hit the crossbar (44th).

Gwen strikes decisively from the point.

After the break, Lea Schuler played with Clara Pohl in attack for Germany. Both teams pushed forward boldly in attack, and the game became more attacking and heated in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius. Janina Meng (55th) made a mistake to give the DFB the lead with a low shot.

But that came after almost ten minutes when goalkeeper Cole ran over Gwynne in the box and deflected the penalty down the right (65). Schuler made a mistake in the initial decision when she could not beat goalkeeper Cole from 11 metres out in a one-on-one situation (71).

Berger saves a penalty in stoppage time

In the end, this great missed opportunity had no negative impact, although it became very turbulent again: first-choice goalkeeper Berger saved a header from Jennifer Hermoso (75) – and when the seven minutes of stoppage time were up, the goalkeeper moved completely to the centre of the field: to the dismay of the German players, Mexican referee Katia Garcia awarded a penalty to Spain after a duel between Meng and Lucia Garcia. But Berger did not let herself be disturbed: the winner of the quarter-final penalty shootout against Canada defended the ball that Putellas had shot to the right with both fists. The rest was joy, relief and fatigue.

Medals will be awarded after the final match.

Hrubesh's team rewarded itself with a bit of luck, but also a well-deserved championship, with the long-awaited medal, which it will receive on Saturday (August 10, 2024) after the end of the Olympic football final in Paris. The coach can then go to his well-deserved retirement with a clear conscience.

The United States and Brazil will play each other in the gold medal final on Saturday (5 p.m., live on Sportschau.de) at Prinzenpark.