This puts the young team led by trainer Silvia Neid under particular pressure for Sunday’s Group B second match against Iceland, who also drew in their opening match – 1-1 against former world champions Norway. Each of the group’s four teams have one point after the first games.

Neid sent her team onto the pitch almost completely unchanged from the formation which won 4-2 against world champions Japan in Munich during the pre-championship test game.

Thursday night’s match against the Netherlands saw both teams dive straight into top gear, with Germany’s top scorer Celia Okoyino da Mbabi challenging for a goal in the seventh minute. Dutch goalie Loes Geurts stopped her attempt though.

Even though the Germans have not lost against the Dutch for more than 13 years, and dominated possession throughout the match, there were some dangerous moments in the other direction. Lieke Martens, a Dutch national player, who also plays for FCR Duisburg in the women’s Bundesliga, took German keeper Nadine Angerer with a huge long shot on goal, but Angerer managed to scoop it out of the corner just before it crossed the line.

German forward Lena Lotzen had two good chances two minutes apart, but failed to hammer them home. The second half saw Simone Laudehr take to the pitch for Germany, but even her addition failed to enable the team to overpower the Dutch – against whom Neid had warned ahead of the game.

DPA/The Local/hc