Manager could not replicate his success at Bayern and while the DFB dreams of Klopp, Nagelsmann looks a more likely successorThe chorus of boos that ushered Germany’s team from the field at full time after Saturday’s humbling at home to Japan might have taken supporters of a certain vintage back 26 years, to Le Tournoi. It wasn’t only about Roberto Carlos’s banana free-kick and the emergence of Paul Scholes, but about French supporters venting their frustrations with their national coach, Aimé Jacquet. When France lost to a late Alan Shearer goal in their second game of the tournament in June 1997, cries of ‘Jacquet démission’ (‘Jacquet resign’) tumbled from the stands of the Mosson in Montpellier.If Hansi Flick had hoped...
The men’s team’s 1,000th international game comes on Monday against a nation that is fighting for its freedomI played six major tournaments from 2004 to 2014: three World Cups and three European Championships. Euro 2012 took place in Poland and Ukraine. We played the group stage in Kharkiv and Lviv. Ukraine has a great football culture – that was noticeable.It has also had great footballers. Andriy Shevchenko, Igor Belanov and Oleg Blokhin were Europe’s footballers of the year. Valeriy Lobanovskyi, the legend of the Dynamo Kyiv bench, continues to influence European football; many system coaches refer to him. In 2001, when I was making my way towards the professional team at Bayern Munich, Germany had a difficult task against Ukraine...
Leaving another World Cup early has exposed a lack of strategy and order that means Germany no longer always win in the endGary Lineker is no longer right. Football is no longer a game in which Germany win in the end. In Qatar, the big nations have succeeded so far. Only not us; as in the two previous major tournaments, Germany were eliminated early.A pattern can be discerned in the failures of the past four or five years. Germany have lost defensive stability – the team cannot keep anyone away from their goal. Every opponent creates chances, even Costa Rica and (in the only preparation match) Oman. Germany’s game always suffers a break. Continue reading...
The great German teams could raise their games to suit the occasion, but this new side seem to do the polar oppositeEverything is connected. A whistle blows in Doha and within fractions of seconds, via a lattice of mobile phone networks and whispers and nudges, its sound has somehow travelled the 30 miles to Al Khor. And the cheer around the stadium gives the game away, and on the Germany bench Hansi Flick senses a change in the air, and he takes a look around, and he glances at his bench, and he knows, he just knows. He turns back to face the pitch. But his hands are in his pockets, and his thoughts are elsewhere.Everything is connected. A World...
Politicians at home are criticising the national team while Hansi Flick struggles to find a natural goalscorerVery few Germans seemed to take much pleasure from their 2-1 defeat against Japan in the opening game of the World Cup. One notable example, however, appeared to be the country’s far-right AFD party, for whom the surprise result – coupled with the decision to make a protest in support of LGBTQ+ rights before the game – offered irrefutable proof of the team’s confused priorities.“If you care more about woke armbands than about football, you lose 1:2 against Japan,” tweeted Martin Reichardt, the party’s family policy spokesperson. “Defeat is symbolic of the decline of Germany, where ideology takes precedence over everything!” Continue reading...