Abbe: Everything about Canada was fantastic - WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
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When Bayern Munich take on Freiburg in the Women’s Bundesliga this weekend, it will as usual be a very special occasion for Bayern’s central defender Caroline Abbe. The Switzerland international only moved from the south-west German club to the Bavarian capital in the summer of 2014, although having faced Freiburg twice last season, a reunion with former team-mates is nothing new. In fact, it is familiar territory, unlike much of what the 27-year-old has experienced in 2015 so far.
In the last ten months, Abbe has celebrated all manner of success, enjoying more than a few firsts along the way. At the Algarve Cup in March, she became the first female player in Switzerland’s history to reach 100 caps. Just a few months later, she then won her first trophy since moving abroad in 2011, lifting the Bundesliga title having played every minute of Bayern’s 22-game season.
The 2010 Swiss Women’s Footballer of the Year had little time to celebrate, however, as her next challenge loomed large on the horizon: Abbe given the honour of captaining her country at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™. It was Switzerland’s first ever participation at the women’s game’s most prestigious event, and as she revealed to FIFA.com, her first taste of a major international tournament was one to savour.
She said: “I was totally thrilled to be there. It was the first time Switzerland had been at a World Cup and it was a great experience for us. I worked really hard to get the opportunity and I want things to continue.”
Amid a growing list of her achievements this year, the question one might ask is what has been Abbe’s highlight? She leaves little doubt as to the answer: “I’d definitely have to say the World Cup. We’d tried for so long to qualify for a major tournament – and then we finally did it. Canada was amazing. Everything about it was just fantastic.”
Ever ambitious, however, the team’s overall performance at the finals left the Geneva native feeling somewhat frustrated. After a narrow loss to defending champions Japan in their opening game, the Swiss got off the mark in style, brushing Ecuador aside in a 10-1 victory. Their final group game ended in another closely-fought defeat to Cameroon, but the Nati still made the Round of 16, where they faced a do-or-die showdown against the host nation.
“Everyone was singing the Canadian national anthem, and it gave me goosebumps,” said Abbe, whose team coped well with the cauldron-like atmosphere at the BC Place stadium in Vancouver. “It wasn’t that the crowd was against us. When we did something good, they applauded us. That was the great thing about it. The fact we didn’t win was down to us not taking our chances,” she says ruefully, referring to at a lack of composure in front of goal that dogged Switzerland throughout the tournament.
In every game, Abbe and her team created the lion’s share of scoring opportunities but, the Ecuador match aside, were less than clinical . “What we lacked was experience,” Abbe continues. “But we gained a lot at the tournament and so we can look to the future with a positive frame of mind.” For Switzerland’s lone centurion, the focus is now on achieving further success, an effort in which one person above all will likely play a major role.
Winning mentality
Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, Switzerland’s coach, has had a profound influence on Abbe since taking charge of the team in February 2012. “She’s ingrained this winning mentality in us, something we didn’t have before,” said Abbe of the 47-year-old German.
“We used to think that we were little Switzerland, there to make up the numbers. When we went into a game, our objective was to concede as few goals as possible. But she gave us all confidence to know that we’re good players and that we can achieve something. And then we started to believe in ourselves. That mental step forward was really important for us.”
Since Voss-Tecklenburg’s arrival, Swiss football has been on an upward curve, with participation at the World Cup in Canada just one step in a long-term trend of progression. Since the tournament, the team are now pulling in bigger crowds and receiving wider coverage in the media, and they have left a legacy that bodes very well for the future. “We’re getting more and more young players coming through and that’s great,” Abbe points out. “We need that to continue.”
With experience of playing at the very highest level now under her belt, Abbe’s goals for the future could not be clearer. “We want to qualify for the big events regularly,” she says, casting an eye towards the next major continental tournament in the calendar, the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 in the Netherlands.
Switzerland have likewise never qualified for the European Championships, but an element of expectation will be on them to set the record straight this time around. Indeed, since their strong showing at the World Cup, Abbe and Co. may well be required to cast aside the underdogs tag and embrace the role of favourites when their qualification campaign begins on 24 October.
It has been quite a year for her, but as much as Abbe enjoys reaching milestones and gaining new experiences, the defensive stalwart’s appetite is far from sated. “Canada can’t be an one-off. It needs to be the starting point for more.”