Andrich sweeps away big names
The biggest winner from Nagelsmann’s new plan
By Tobias Nordmann
March 26, 2024, 12:08 p.m
The 2-0 win against France resonates and brings great relief and enthusiasm. Julian Nagelsmann and his DFB team are enjoying the resurrection. This was also possible because of the national coach’s rigorous renovation work.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann has cleaned up. He sent Joshua Kimmich to the right back. He didn’t even invite Leon Goretzka anymore. He has decommissioned the once successful engine room of FC Bayern in the German national soccer team. İlkay Gündoğan, who set the pace for the world’s best team last season, Manchester City, was also swept from the headquarters. The dust from Nagelsmann’s broom whirled him a few meters further forward. He is now the tenth player in the DFB team. But Nagelsmann didn’t leave the tidy room empty. He redecorated it. And less than four months ago, no one would have thought that the Bolide national team with Toni Kroos and Robert Andrich as a duo would be heading towards the home European Championship.
And he comes rushing around the corner towards Frankfurt with a surprising amount of speed. From the Rhône-Alpes region, where an amazing thing happened last Saturday. The German national team rose from the depths of what felt like eternity and swept across France. There was no shortage of superlatives. The chronicles were rummaged about when the DFB team last played so well. Some people scrolled back to 2016, perhaps forgetting the Confederations Cup a year later (2017), in which Germany took part, but national coach Joachim Löw forgot to collect the winnings from the insignificant tournament. In France, Löw’s successor, if you exclude interim man Rudi Völler, siphoned off the sweet nectar of his own radicalism. Every single player had campaigned for a regular place at the European Championships.
And because Nagelsmann saw it that way, the France winners can prove themselves again right from the start in the second tough test against the Netherlands in Frankfurt, including Kroos (no surprise) and Andrich. Is it actually a surprise that the Leverkusen player is once again allowed to play the bouncer alongside the new old disc jockey in the German midfield? Some call it so, others so. Andrich is still one of the lesser-known men on the team. Even if he officially dismissed Kylian Mbappé, a potential world footballer, in Lyon and thus briefly registered himself on the world football stage. At the already advanced age of 29. The fact that someone like that is now playing a key role in the concert of those who have already cashed in heavily at club level is, yes, a surprise.
Mixture of magicians, clock makers and hard workers
But because Andrich plays the way he plays, because he also plays on the dirty side, he brings indispensable things for the national coach’s new approach. He no longer relies on the big names or the practice of players being there, because they always have been, but rather he is looking for the perfect mix of magicians, pacemakers and hard workers. The DFB team has noticeably lacked this component recently. But the native of Potsdam is not only the vicious chain dog, Andrich can also play football pretty well. He’s welcome to do that, but he doesn’t necessarily have to. Because he has Kroos at his side.
This time the big one (sorry, Felix Kroos! – he was once his colleague at Union). The one who stands for unshakable hero football at Real Madrid. Who doesn’t have to prove what a genius he is in every game, but who can manage his temper well when big moments are needed. Against France he had this feeling when he first touched the ball and quite often afterwards. He understood very well that he was perhaps the last hope for a bit of euphoria before the home European Championships. And Kroos was able to switch, control and shine because someone was cleaning up next to him: Andrich. “My role should be to give the team a certain stability and security. I try to keep Toni’s back free,” the late starter explained the role before his third international match this Tuesday evening (8.45 p.m. on RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker).
The role thing is a thing in the new national team. After the shocking November double against Turkey and Austria, Nagelsmann thought everything through again and adopted a new radicalism. He no longer takes any sensitivities into account. The mission is summer success. And so he adapts his plan, defines roles, defines core staff and challengers. Because some guys don’t fit into one mold or the other, they will miss the European Championships. There are also well-deserved powers. Not Kroos, the boss. Not Andrich, his important wingman.
The long way up
In a personally rather unsettled season with Bayer, where he oscillates between being a regular player and being on the bench, he is probably having the best time of his life. Leverkusen clears everything they can. In the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso’s team is miles ahead of FC Bayern, Bayer is the top favorite in the cup and a big hit is still possible in the Europa League. And suddenly that seems possible again with the national team. Even if you hear everywhere that one game doesn’t make a summer. But the energy is back, sparked by guys like Andrich. There will be a classic six-pointer at the European Championships. Even if it is no longer clearly defined what a classic six is. Thomas Tuchel and Joshua Kimmich had a different opinion about this last summer at FC Bayern.
Nagelsmann answered the question for himself. He is looking for “worker”. And Andrich’s biography reads like the perfect guide for this. And the alternative to the Kroos path, whose world career seemed to be predetermined when he made his debut for FC Bayern at the age of 17. Andrich, on the other hand, is a burger fan with a gladiator hairstyle and an unbridled Viking beard who worked his way up to Bayer Leverkusen via Hertha BSC, Dynamo Dresden, Wehen-Wiesbaden and Union Berlin. He admits without any shame that he was no longer the most professional player. Back in Wehen’s time, he was still out and about “far too much after zero o’clock.” It was only his wife Alicia who “caught” him in this regard. His life as a footballer still sometimes seems like a dream to him. “There are moments when you say: Wow, cool,” he said. There could be a lot of them in summer.