The DFB and Julian Nagelsmann apparently agree to fight together in the near future. The coach should get the national soccer team up to speed by the home European Championships. This plan involves risks, which mainly have to do with his Bayern past.
What is the team that produced the DFB documentary “All or nothing” about the national team’s World Cup debacle in Qatar doing right now? Cameras in the dressing room would come in handy in October, when the designated new national coach Julian Nagelsmann meets his team for the first time. On the national players with whom he would like to move towards a successful home European Championship. Because there are some from FC Bayern among them, some that Nagelsmann already knows. And that when he is said to have “lost the dressing room” at the Munich model club before he was kicked out in March.
Julian Nagelsmann and the German Football Association, the coaching prodigy and the fallen association football giant. That sounds like a logical liaison. Two parties hungry for success who are now going on a journey together. At 36, Nagelsmann is still very young, but already rich in experience. After all, he took up his first Bundesliga job at the age of 28 and is the youngest full-time coach in the history of the football upper house.
Inglorious Bayern departure
But Nagelsmann is no longer a blank slate. And his recent past is exactly what could become a problem for the DFB team. His departure from FC Bayern was extremely inglorious – but that same club traditionally represents an important axis in the DFB’s selection. In March he was fired for the first time in his coaching career; he had previously left TSG Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig to take up new, better positions. In March, FC Bayern threatened to gamble away the championship and the Bayern bosses pulled the ripcord.
Players like Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka were deeply affected by the dismissal, but the reports that he had “lost the dressing room” show the potential for conflict. He had left Bayern legend Thomas Müller almost exclusively on the bench; he was recently nominated again for the DFB team – by Hansi Flick. Under interim coach Rudi Völler, he had already secured an early 1-0 lead against France and emotionally carried away both the team and the fans in Dortmund.
Problem Neuer only threatens in the future
Nagelsmann will still have Manuel Neuer on staff for a grace period; the goalkeeper will be the goalkeeper for the games on the trip to the USA on October 14th against the USA (9 p.m./RTL and in the ntv.de live ticker) and four days later against Mexico continue to play no role. But the two also have a troubled past, after Neuer broke his leg while ski touring, Nagelsmann had goalkeeping coach and Neuer confidant Toni Tapalovic thrown out because of a lack of loyalty and allegedly leaked internal matters. Neuer hit back in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”; the fronts are clear.
All of this affects individual players, but as we know, only a united team can perform well. What can be expected from a lot of highly talented individual players who don’t work together perfectly was recently impressively seen under Flick. But especially now, when it’s about nothing less than saving German football, the home European Championship, which is supposed to make the country flourish, unity is needed.
Experiment for time
In addition, the players’ statements after Völler’s success against France demonstrated that the team should not be overloaded with complex game ideas and ever new tactical finesse. Together with his assistant coaches Hannes Wolf and Sandro Wagner, Völler focused on clarity, simple structures, emotionality and fun in the game. Goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen said: “Above all, we wanted to have a structure that was relatively simple.” Other players made similar comments. Nagelsmann, on the other hand, is known as a nerd, as someone who likes the complexity of football and doesn’t want to leave anything to chance. He has not yet distinguished himself as a stirring whipper off the field.
Ultimately, it will be a temporary experiment: Nagelsmann has nine months, not much for a coach who only gets his team together every few weeks. These nine months will show whether the risk is worth it or whether the DFB and Nagelsmann will fail together.