A win has top priority in the last international match of the season. That’s what national coach Hansi Flick says before the final duel against Colombia. The order is crashed into the sand by its players. There are whistles, helplessness and tough announcements.
Within three and a half weeks, the soccer city of Gelsenkirchen experienced two very bitter crashes. But the relegation of the local FC Schalke 04 at the end of May and the next cruelty of the German national football team on this Tuesday evening cannot be compared with each other. With the traditional giants, they collectively leave the season with the feeling that everything can turn out well, also because they think the right coach is on the sidelines, his name is Thomas Reis. In the case of the former favorite child of the republic, on the other hand, only the bosses currently believe in a happy ending next summer when the home EM is due. The feeling that the national team has the right man to guide them is quite exclusive.
The mood around the DFB-Elf continues to tilt. There were whistles at the somehow still convulsed 3: 3 against the Ukraine in Bremen. These grew into a shrill concert when the referee waved off the duel with Colombia in Gelsenkirchen. Germany had lost 2-0, the team had set the task of national coach Hansi Flick, namely to win, massively in the sentence. The record of the DFB hat-trick: a draw, two bankruptcies (0: 1 against Poland). Flick himself was in a hurry to disappear into the catacombs after the very shocking performance. He politely congratulated his counterpart Nestor Lorenzo, then he disappeared – and didn’t reappear for a long time. An unusual amount of time passed before he appeared at the press conference. He had had a great need to talk to his players, many of whom without a word, then disappeared in all directions. Some will come back in September, when everything has to go well in the decisive phase of preparation for the European Championship. Others don’t. In any case, this was the message announced by DFB director Rudi Völler.
“It’s dramatic”
The 1990 World Champion came to set the mood. Now he has to ward off bad vibes. To a certain extent drive away “dark clouds” that his predecessor Oliver Bierhoff had once identified over the team. But such a real high pressure area just doesn’t want to nest over the national team. A monstrous low is currently raging. “I don’t know if it’s enough to worry about. It’s dramatic. We have big plans again,” said Leon Goretzka on RTL. “It’s hard to explain why we can’t get it on the pitch. It’s missing at every turn. It’s far too little.” The Hansi hype has long since died down. He’s turned into the opposite.
Even if the first year under Flick’s aegis was still appealing, with nine wins and four draws. In the eleven matches of the second year there are three wins, three draws – and five defeats. These are figures of a downward trend that are causing a furor of criticism. Above all, Flick’s experimental anger of a wild professor is met with increasing dismay among local experts and in the stands. Instead of the sometimes confusing principle of trial and error, there is a growing desire for a stable axis, for a clear hierarchy, for stability. Individual “Flick-out” calls could be heard in the Schalke Arena. Posters with that message were also shown. The national coach does not have to fear for his job, the bosses had put themselves in front of him too vehemently in the past few days. And yet everything is flying around his ears terribly. And so he had to admit bitterly: “It went awry. We are incredibly disappointed with the way it was done. I’m sorry for the fans. What we tried didn’t work.”
His experiments, his words, his explanations. Against Colombia, he called victory the top priority. But you could hardly be further away from the announced order than your players. He wanted to focus on the offensive. Phew, difficult. In the first 45 minutes there were flanks, but where a taker should be, a nine, there was nothing, there was nobody. Maybe Kai Havertz should have been there. According to the tactical arrangement, that was the plan. But the man, who is likely to leave Chelsea and be courted by Arsenal, had other plans that night. Which one exactly? Not clear. When Flick finally bet on Niclas Füllkrug after a good hour, the paralyzed crowd was delighted, but the flanks no longer came into the center and instead sailed into nirvana, mostly out of goal. That was terrifying.
When it’s 0-1, Germany just doesn’t do anything
Now the passionate Colombia was by no means an opponent of supernatural size, but an opponent where the balance is just right, the hierarchy. With Yerry Mina, the team had a giant defensive leader who talked, who corrected, who drove and motivated. With Juan Cuadrado and Luis Diaz, two strong players also orchestrated the offensive game, with good ball assertions, clever dribbling, game intelligence and wit. So both were also responsible for the 1-0 (54th). Cuadrado looked calmly where Diaz lurked, crossed perfectly, header, goal. No pressure on the flank, no pressure on the end. Long before that, Germany had completely lost their bearings and after 25 minutes after the first quick attacks from the guests, they crept into the scaredy-cat house. The receipt came relatively late. Malick Thiaw heroically tackled a counterattack. Marc-André ter Stegen fished a ball out of the corner. Others whizzed past the gate. But not Diaz’s perfect header.
The fact that Flick of all people identified Emre Can, whom he had surprisingly appointed as the middle man in the back three and thus issued a vote of no confidence to the three other central defenders Thilo Kehrer, Matthias Ginter and Nico Schlotterbeck on the bench, as the main culprit, was surprising. He was the starting point for a series of mistakes, and Thiaw, Kai Havertz and Robin Gosens also looked anything but good. But who did that tonight? Jamal Musiala still, his dribbles were quite nice to look at, but they were the only offensive means – and then also good to defend.
And in view of the performance of some players, Völler’s collar burst after the game. “In the end, Hansi Flick is the poorest sow, he tries everything that we are successful, tries a little bit,” he said on RTL: “You have to say that we underestimated it a bit, that the quality is not the same like a few years ago.” And that will have noticeable consequences: “There were a few who we won’t see again in September. One or the other has reached its limits.” Flick will certainly analyze this carefully and react accordingly when nominated for the September international matches against Japan and France. When asked about this, the coach asked for “time.” He wanted to analyze “calmly” and “objectively”. He didn’t want to be guided by the emotion. Maybe it would have been good. That’s not how names came up that evening.
Wolf wobbles, what happened to Can?
But it doesn’t take much imagination to imagine that a Marius Wolf is one of the wobbly candidates. Made two mistakes early on, was totally inhibited afterwards. In the middle of the first half, Flick reminded him that he should play the balls forward as a full-back. Wolf did the opposite. Can also had little to advertise for himself, losing the ball before the 0:1 was outrageous. In a duel, he acted uncompromisingly, but was extremely jittery when it came to building up the game. Flick could hardly explain what the actual plan was with the Dortmunder, who played a strong second half of the season as a stabilizer for his club as a six. Like so many of his experiments over the past few days, none of which can pass as a success. Latest evidence: Musiala as a kind of six to eight (Joshua Kimmich was on the bench for that). Or hopeful Ilkay Gündogan in a strangely defined half-space in front left, which he apparently had not seen for himself.
Leon Goretzka fought and fought. There was applause for the commitment from the audience, who revealed themselves to be predominantly royal blue through insulting chants against regional rivals BVB. But there is currently little to be seen of the power footballer he once was. And Leroy Sané had good ideas, but nothing solid in his luggage. None of this triggers positive vibes, which reflects the dreary atmosphere in the stadium. The DFB spokesman found them breathtaking when announcing the number of spectators (almost not sold out), and as an echo he got a mixture of laughter and whistles. Only the Colombians spread a touch of World Cup flair. That was fun. Nobody feels that in black and red gold anymore. Probably not even Flick, contrary to all assurances. “I’ve never experienced a situation like this. I like to win, I hate to lose. I can train with the best players in Germany, I enjoy the work.”
Who Provides Hope?
And so he advertises for himself, for his way, for his plan: “My idea of football is the right one for this team,” he said when asked and ruled out the consequences. He enjoys the support of the team. “We have absolute confidence in him,” said goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. When asked if Flick was still the right person, Benjamin Henrichs replied: “Yes, absolutely.” Emre Can said he saw no discussion “at all” about the national coach. “The coach has set us up really well,” said the Dortmunder. “He wanted to try, which is his right. It didn’t work out, but we shouldn’t question the manager. We players are responsible for not performing on the pitch.”
In the coming weeks, however, Flick will be the leading topic of all debates. Most recently, the experts had already zeroed in on Flick, wanting a hierarchy and more continuity. This time he left the last constant 79 minutes on the bench with Kimmich. Bitter: As soon as he was on the pitch, the referee whistled for a penalty, 0:2. Cuadrado converted after the Bayern player’s handball (82′). Flick let all criticism roll off him, always referred to September, the decisive phase in the preparation for the home tournament, with slogans that were hard to bear. Again this Tuesday evening. “We will then try to really tie down and name a tribe of 10, 12, 14 players,” he announced. “I can promise that we will see a different team in September.”
But which? And why? There is no scaffolding to be seen. Sure, with Serge Gnabry an important offensive player is missing injured. Timo Werner isn’t there either, but opinions have been divided on him for years and they will continue to do so year after day. The national coach voluntarily renounced Niklas Süle because he was not making the most of his potential. But maybe a half-potential professional Süle is still better than some others in his position? And then there are Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels, the on-off legends with undefined status. Sound like hope? More like a much-needed miracle.
A new summer fairy tale has already been decreed for the summer of 2024. Rudi Völler really wants it. He also believes that everything will be fine if the team does its part with strong performances. But this is more than ever the biggest unknown in this equation.