We will stop the dangerous attacks of Nigeria, says Germany’s Maren Meinert

Germany U20 women’s head coach Maren Meinert says her side will put up a quality defending to stop the dangerous attacks of Nigeria in their Monday’s opener.

The 45-year-old led Die Nationalelf to clinch the U20 Women’s World Cup title twice - first on home soil in 2010 and in Canada four years later - both triumphs were against the Falconets.

While dreaming of her third world title in charge, the German tactician, who is eyeing a winning start, is wary of the attacking threats of Christopher Danjuma’s ladies.

“We try, among other things, to simulate game scenes of our upcoming opponent. The Nigerian women play very long-range,” Meinert told Dfb website.

“So we need to be prepared to pick up speed, put pressure on the ball-bearing player quickly and not let ourselves get overrun. We will also try to be careful and focused in the game.

“This will prevent opposing players from running behind our backbone and get into situations that are difficult to prevent. The most important thing is that we go through our own game and stop the dangerous attacks of Nigerian women.

“Nigeria is a very strong opponent and we looked at some videos from the qualifiers and know that they have very fast players and can play very well forward.

“In both U-20 World Cup finals we won so far, Nigeria was our opponent in the final. Therefore, this game will be a real occasion for us.”