Popp drained after arduous quarterfinal victory: "I think I could do with Per Mertesacker's 'three days in the ice bath'."
Yesterday's nervy and grueling victory over Canada left German women's national team captain Alexandra Popp feeling completely depleted when conducting her post-match interview with German public broadcaster ZDF. The 33-year-old clearly had very little left in the tank after what she herself described as 120 minutes of "pure struggle".
Popp first spoke on the DFB-XI's opportunities to avoid a penalty shootout with some late chances both near the end of normal and extra time.
"We had chances to seal the deal beforehand," Popp said, "Then we went through 120 minutes and a shootout. That leaves me simply done. I really thought some of out set-pieces would help us achieve a 'lucky punch'."
Regarding the crucial performance of goal-keeper Ann-Katrin Berger to help keep the team in the game and then carry the shoot-out on her shoulders, Popp was full of praise for her fellow 33-year-old. The DFB squad-captain spoke in great detail to convey her full thoughts on Berger's match.
"We have machine in goal," Popp said, "One should naturally note that she did nearly get us into trouble, but we all responded as a team. My hats off to her for keeping a cool head and demonstrating parrying discipline [in the shoot-out]."
Precisely as was the case following the opening group stage victory, the team's leader was handed the task of assessing the team's prospects ahead of an exceedingly difficult match against the U.S. Women. Popp didn't have much energy left to make such a gauge.
Germany's greatest rivals on the global women's footballing stage handed them a 4-1 defeat in the second group stage match. Popp preferred to draw a historical parallel with the German men's team.
An equally grueling victory over Algeria in the 2014 World Cup Round-of-16 led to German footballing legend Per Mertesacker giving one of the most famous interviews in German footballing history; one in which the exhausted defender declined to assess the team's performance or look ahead.
"I think could do with Per Mertesacker's 'three days in the ice bath'," Popp noted, "Another 120 minutes and penalties would be very, very difficult."