Irene Fuhrmann cast her eye over the task Austria face on Thursday night and made it perfectly clear: against Germany, her team must play the match of their lives. “They barely have any weaknesses, they have such a good squad,” she said. “If we want to win tomorrow, we will need an absolutely great performance.”
Yet Austria believe the shock is on. This quarter-final between neighbours of such geographical and cultural proximity will be a highly charged affair and it comes as a surprise these sides have played each other only twice, first meeting in 2016. Germany have won both but face opponents who continue to grow in stature and can legitimately claim to operate at the same level.
