Thursday 22 April 2021, 04:35

Sasic: France were better than us

There are different kinds of memories: good ones, some that are not so pleasant and those that are extra special. Everybody has them and is familiar with the feeling of reminiscing about a particular moment. It can conjure up a subconscious smile, but can also pose questions: what would have happened if…?

Former German international Celia Sasic knows that feeling all too well, having missed a penalty against USA in the semi-final of the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™. What if she had scored it?

"I've never watched it back on video before," said Sasic, who won the adidas Golden Boot award as the tournament's top scorer, when she views the scene in an interactive video interview. "You could see that I was saying to myself: 'You've just missed a penalty in the semi-final against USA. You could be 1-0 up.' During the first few hours and the first night after that I thought: 'Why didn't you just bury it? The keeper even went the wrong way and you could've easily scored it.' Another 20 centimetres to the right and it would have gone in…"

She was more successful in the quarter-finals against France. Sasic netted the crucial equaliser from the penalty spot and also clinically converted her effort in the penalty shoot-out. "At the time it was clear that if I didn't score then it would be difficult to reach the next round," said the 27-year-old.

"I said to myself: 'Just put it away, we have to get to the next stage.' France were really good and were better than us in that match. It was our chance to make it possible and turn the game around, even though we'd been second-best for a while. That's why I was relieved afterwards and although I may have looked composed, I wasn't really."

Celia Sasic's point of view If you would like to know what else Sasic had to say, simply watch the video and enjoy the surprises in every clip. Alongside the aforementioned moments, she also discusses her hat-trick against Côte d'Ivoire, Norway's Maren Mjelde scoring against Germany with a wonderful free-kick and Australia's victory over Brazil.

Note: Click the 'CC' button in the bottom bar of the YouTube video to turn on English subtitles