BERLIN: Former Germany international Horst Hrubesch has been named interim coach for the women’s national team after the sacking of Steffi Jones, the German Football Association said on Tuesday. Hrubesch, a European champion and World Cup runner-up as a player with Germany, has been a successful youth coach leading the men’s Under-21 team to the European title in 2009 and earning the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016. This is his first appointment in women’s football as Germany, once a dominant force, have dropped down the pecking order. He will be in charge for the upcoming crucial World Cup qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Slovenia in April. “I have been following women’s football for years and was at last year’s Euro as well,” Hrubesch said in a statement.”I am very happy to help out at this stage.” Germany did not make it past the quarter-finals at last year’s Women’s Euro, an event they had dominated for two decades. They also finished last in this month’s SheBelieves Cup in the United States having failed to win a match. Jones had taken over in 2016 from the hugely successful Silvia Neid. Published in Daily Times, March 14th 2018.