“I Don’t Know of Any Female Neymar”- Germany’s Robust Defender Dives Into Comparisons With $200 Million Brazilian Hotshot, Ahead of 2023 Women’s World Cup

The 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is almost underway. While the USWNT are strong favorites to go all the way, the Germans aren’t very far behind. Just days before the grand competition, one of Germany’s defenders made an eye-opening comment surrounding Neymar Jr. The defender joked about not knowing any women’s soccer player like Neymar.

In recent years, the Brazilian has become injury prone. On several occasions, Neymar Jr has received criticism for ‘staying down’ for too long on the soccer pitch. Keeping the same context in mind, the German starter made the Paris Saint-Germain winger’s reference.

A German World Cup defender unexpectedly references Neymar Jr

Ahead of her trip to Australia, Germany’s Sophia Kleinherne spoke exclusively to Playboy. During the interview, she spoke about various subjects surrounding her career. Towards the end, the host asked her to explain her understanding of ‘honest’ soccer. While it was quite unexpected, she stunningly referred to Neymar Jr while answering this question.

She quoted, “I think that we don’t always make so much of certain situations. I don’t know of any female Neymar. For example, I don’t know any female player who stays down for two or three minutes (laughs). Seriously, I’d like to say that our hearts are really into every second of the game – and even when we lose, we can never be accused of not giving our all”.

“There is an incredible amount of passion in our team”, as translated by DeepL. The German defender seemed to be very critical of Neymar’s actions on the field. Quite a few sportspersons have referred to Neymar Jr’s major injury in 2014. In fact, NBA veteran Draymond Green used the Brazilian as an effective example to defend Anthony Davis.

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In short, the hope for every sports player is to always stay fit. Speaking about fitness, Germany has three notable absentees for the upcoming World Cup. Here’s an overview of their squad.

The Germans are likely to replicate a successful 4-3-3 after the Euros

Goalie Almuth Schult misses the tournament due to pregnancy. Linda Dallmann and Giulia Gwinn are still recovering from injuries and will miss the tournament. Defender Marina Hegering, Lena Oberdorf, and striker Alexandra Popp are three key players forming the spine of the German side. They will most likely set up in a 4-3-3 formation that worked well in the European Championship.

A positive for Germany is that the squad possesses an equal balance between pace and creativity. The squad has ‘quietly’ powerful influencers like Sara Dabritz who work wonders. Their only question mark is the quality of their current fullbacks. Could Germany’s high-intensity game plan help them triumph over Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe’s USWNT?

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What do you think about Sophia Kleinherne’s comments surrounding Neymar? Let us know in the comments below.