Janina Minge at the Women's European Championship: Step by step up

Janina Minge doesn't shy away from responsibility. Not in her trained profession as a police officer, nor on the football field. The 26-year-old can always be relied upon, no matter what position she's deployed in.

Before Germany's opening match at the European Women's Championship, which ended in a 2-0 win against Poland, almost all the focus was on captain Giulia Gwinn. While the FC Bayern player isn't exactly an eccentric personality, she does tend to hog the limelight more than her teammates. Less than 45 minutes into the opening match, Gwinn suffered a serious knee injury. It quickly became clear that she wouldn't be able to play on the pitch for the remainder of the tournament, and that others would have to step in. Since then, Minge has worn the captain's armband, confident and opinionated, but primarily focused on her strong performances on the pitch.

She started in defensive midfield in the dramatic quarter-final victory against the favored French (6:5 on penalties), but was demoted to a position after Kathrin Hendrich's red card. "We are capable of great things," she announced after the heroic victory despite being outnumbered for almost two hours. Tournament favorites Spain await on Wednesday (9 p.m.) on their way to the final. Coach Montserrat Tomé's team, who once played for the great FC Barcelona, has strolled flawlessly into the round of the last four teams. Portugal (5:0), Belgium (6:2), Italy (3:1), and most recently the hosts Switzerland (2:0) were easily defeated. If you ask the bookmakers, you won't get rich by tipping Spain to become European champions.

Janina Minge won't care much about that. In southern Germany, at FC Wangen im Allgäu, she was still playing with the boys at the age of 16. She then moved to SC Freiburg, where she didn't miss a single league game for over six years (!), and last summer, she joined VfL Wolfsburg. Minge hasn't had a career that leapfrogged, but she has built meaningfully on the previous one.

The national team is currently taking a similar approach. There seems to be plenty of room for improvement, especially in their ball-handling skills. It's not uncommon for a team to win a tournament without having excelled right from the start. Janina Minge could take a cue from her role model, Lukas Podolski, who won the 2014 World Cup with the men's team in this way.