BERLIN (AP) — Perhaps the silver lining Germany can take from its deepening national soccer crisis is that Euro 2024 is still a year away.
Although few still do, German coach Hansi Flick insists there is enough time to replace things before hosting the tournament.
Flick struggled to justify his conviction Tuesday night after the last disappointing performance: a 2-0 loss to Colombia that saw his team whistled at halftime and at the end.
“With the results, what can I say?” Flick said. ” The arguments are on our side. “
Some enthusiasts even held up signs reading “Flick out,” showing those who deserve the blame for Germany’s deepening crisis.
Flick had said before kick-off that it was imperative to secure a win against Colombia after the 1-0 loss in Poland and the 3-3 draw against Ukraine last week.
“We want positive effects to take the next steps, otherwise it will be difficult,” Flick said.
This is proving difficult. Germany qualified as hosts of Euro 2024, they will not face any competitive matches before the tournament. It relies on friendlies to build trust, but poor effects have the opposite effect.
Without naming names, the sporting director of the national team, Rudi Völler, highlighted the quality of the players and announced that some will leave before next year’s tournament.
“There were worried players today that we might not see again in September,” Völler said, referring to Germany’s upcoming friendlies against Japan and France. “Everyone was worried, it’s not in doubt. But in the end, it will have It must be said that it is definitely a matter of quality.
Germany has no shortage of smart players. Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz are two of Europe’s young players, Antonio Rüdiger plays for Real Madrid, İlkay Gündoğan has just helped Manchester City win the Champions League for the first time, and Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sané are used to betting on the highest point for Bayern Munich.
But AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw is the only German player credited this week after making his debut against Poland and retaining his starting spot against Colombia.
Germany’s turmoil predates Flick, dating back to when the team was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup organising level as protective champions under Joachim Löw. Another failure followed in 2021, the Euro 2020 tournament postponed by the coronavirus before Flick took over.
Assistant to Flick Löw from 2006 to 2014, he then won each and every name he could earn as Bayern Munich coach in 2020 and 2021. He intended to oversee the failure of Löw’s reorganization and turn the German team into a ruthless goalscoring machine.
But Germany failed at the organizational level at last year’s World Cup. Out of 11 games this season, Germany won just 3, a futile end win over Costa Rica at the World Cup and two friendly wins against Peru and Oman.
Germany, four-time world champions, were once a feared rival. Now, it can be said that player confidence is at an all-time low.
“It’s dramatic,” Goretzka said after Colombia’s first win over Germany. “You can’t say there was no spirit. We seek to throw everything away. We all need it. “
Flick’s hashing and switching didn’t help. He made nine adjustments for the game against Poland from the starting lineup against Ukraine, and then five more adjustments for the team to face Colombia.
None of Flick’s tweaks have resulted in an improvement and all his tweaks give the impression that he’s still not sure what his most productive composition is. game.
Gündoğan alluded to a vicious cycle of poor effects affecting trust, leading to more fragile performances and poor effects. He referred to Völler’s accusation of lack of quality.
“If you can’t succeed in your supposed best outlook for a longer period of time, then I think it’s general that the question of quality will come up at some point. We have to deal with this,” Gündoğan said. However, we are here to constitute Germany in the most productive way imaginable. It hasn’t worked at all in recent games. And we want to critically challenge ourselves and then come together again.
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