Germany Women vs China PR Women Predictions

Since dominating the women’s game in the mid to late 2000’s, winning two World Cups and three European Championships, Germany have gone off the boil somewhat in recent years; they could only finish 4^th at the last World Cup, while they were very disappointing at the EURO’s two years ago.

However, despite a couple of poor efforts over the last few years, the Germans look to have a strong squad ahead of this tournament, so it would be no surprise to see Die Nationalelf do well in France this summer.

After a disappointing SheBelieves Cup in early 2018, the German women have really got their acts together, as they’ve gone 12 games unbeaten ten of which they’ve won. In qualifying for these finals, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg’s side won seven out of eight, while they’ve also performed very well against some top sides in friendlies over the last 12 months or so, beating the likes of Canada, France and Sweden, all of whom currently rank inside in the top ten.

Historically, China have enjoyed a fraction of the success that the Germans have, though they have previously reached a World Cup final, while they’ve played well against some decent sides in recent months, so they’re likely to go to France feeling upbeat.

China certainly don’t come into this tournament as minnows; they’re a skilful side, a side that isn’t short of technical quality, though they’ve tended to lack both defensive solidity and that all-important know-how against the top teams. Last time out, the Chinese came off second best against France, while they’ve also been beaten by both Denmark and Norway of late.

In fact, getting results against sides that rank highly in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings is not something that China specialise in, as they’ve won none of their last ten games against top-ten teams, nine of which they’ve lost. They’ve also failed to score in five of those ten and have shipped a total of 20 goals, scoring just six in reply. Unsurprisingly, they’re without a clean sheet in their last ten games against teams that rank inside the top ten.

Quite simply, with players such as Lyon’s creative Dzsenifer Marozsán and powerful goal-getter Alexandra Popp, who plays for Champions League regulars Wolfsburg, in their ranks, Germany have the forward quality to overpower the Chinese, though we shouldn’t assume that the favourites will run riot. After all, Germany have scored more than twice in none of their last five, while for all they’ve struggled to get results against the top sides, Japan have only conceded more than twice in two of their last eight against top-ten teams. On this basis, the best option appears to be ‘Germany to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’.