DFB stars want to deliver
Controversial Hansi Flick fights the elephant in the room
9/5/2023 7:03 p.m
No gloomy clouds – Hansi Flick forbids the thought of an early failure as national coach. On the banks of the Mittelland Canal in Wolfsburg, the former Bayern coach has to make the leaky tanker national team seaworthy again.
Hansi Flick was full of energy. The national coach who had been counted out entered the pitch in Wolfsburg with his red whistle around his neck twelve minutes before the official start of training. After the worrying performances of the national football team for months, the 58-year-old knows what the hour has come. Despite the enormous pressure, he is not (yet) concerned with a possible expulsion.
“That wouldn’t be good advice. I can’t go to the games like that,” Flick told RND before the revenge against the World Cup shock Japan on Saturday (8.45 p.m. / RTL and in the live ticker on ntv.de) and the hammer task against Vice World Champion France three days later in Dortmund (9 p.m./ARD and in the live ticker on ntv.de). Nine months before the European Championships at home, he much prefers to think back to the summer fairy tale of 2006. “In the year of the home World Cup, one headline was still in March: Black-red-gold bottles! Three months later it said: Now we are all black-red-horny!”
But the fans are not really excited about the four-time world champion at the moment. Therefore, the DFB selection wants to regain lost credit. “We have to get the nation behind us again and create a spirit of optimism,” said Robin Gosens, adding with a view to the ailing Flick: “We owe the coach.”
The end of all experiments
But he had to announce a setback before the unit in the bright sunshine on the Mittelland Canal. Niclas Füllkrug is traveling back to his club Borussia Dortmund on Thursday due to a problem with the back of his left thigh. The top scorer is therefore out of the Japan game, and there is a “small possibility” of a match against France, according to Flick. Jamal Musiala from Munich should join the team before the game against Japan after tearing a muscle fiber. Therefore, there will be no further nomination next to Bayern Munich’s cult star Thomas Müller.
After only four wins in the past 16 international matches, Flick has declared the end of all experiments. “The results we achieved shouldn’t happen like that,” said Flick. Above all, the way the team goes onto the pitch has to change: “We want them to fight together. The fans also want to see the team start fighting and defending themselves.”
Sammer criticism does not fall on deaf ears
Flick wants to see initial progress on Wednesday in an internal test behind closed doors against their own U20. His superiors are also watching closely these days, even if Rudi Völler was still asking for understanding for Flick. “You don’t always have to agree, but respect for the office and the person of the national coach should be there,” said the DFB sports director.
But if there is another defeat against Japan, then it should be really tight for Flick. You have to endure this headwind, says Völler: “Every fan, every expert has their own idea. I had to endure it then, Hansi has to endure it today.”
Chief critic Matthias Sammer in particular recently put his finger in the wound. German football is on the ground and is in its greatest crisis. “He is often very direct with his statements, sometimes he deliberately exaggerates. But: he’s also right about many things,” said Völler. Flick also appreciates Sammer’s clear words: “It’s not always easy, but it’s always good to have such a critical mind,” said the national coach. Knowing full well that the criticism could increase further.