Monday 29 March 2021
Good news for Sané and Löw
The surprising offer from Emre Can
The surprising offer from Emre Can
By Tobias Nordmann
Dortmund’s Emre Can was not very high in the list of certain candidates for a place in the EM squad. That changed within a few days. Against Romania, he convinces with his dynamism and unexpected technique.
Somebody has to do it. And when someone has to do it, it’s often Emre Can. But he is not the perfect guy for special tasks. It is the all-rounder that can do it (almost) anywhere. Even when faced with challenges that were previously completely unknown to him. That he will not play in the central midfield of the national team, which he likes to do, must have been clear to him for a long time. Because the quality there is so high with limited space that the applicants for Joshua Kimmich, Toni Kroos, İlkay Gündoğan, Leon Goretzka and Florian Neuhaus are almost claustrophobic.
A place in the German central defense would also be possible for Can. Their reputation has suffered badly after the catastrophic year 2020. With the result that every stabilizing force is welcome. Can plays this role at Borussia Dortmund. Basically, that’s not a bad entry in your own vita. And then there is the ongoing discussion about a DFB return of his BVB colleague Mats Hummels. Can and Hummels as heroes of the European Championship, like Boateng and Hummels as heroes of the World Cup?
However: As a central defender, Emre Can also set an unpopular record. In 2019 he saw the fastest red card in German international history at the European Championship qualifying game in Estonia after 15 minutes. When he slipped away a dropout from Niklas Süle, who was actually intended for the role of defense chief. Unfortunately with opponents.
Right-back doesn’t have to be …
The right-back would also be conceivable for Can. Has he already done. And even good. But he doesn’t really like it, as he explained in a media round before the three-pack in World Cup qualification. In order not to diminish his chances of playing, he politely added that “in the end the coach decides” where he plays. He has already done this 32 times since his debut on September 4, 2015 for Germany.
And the coach actually had a plan that the 27-year-old hadn’t expected. Both against Iceland (3-0) and against Romania (1-0) he was in the back left of the back four. And there he did his 180 minutes so convincingly that he wordlessly made the national coach the offer to take over this job at the EM in the summer. And that’s good news for both Löw and Leroy Sané. Because with Can, the outgoing boss has a man in the last chain who communicates strongly, organizes and drives. Who also chooses the rustic variant to avert damage.
Sané in particular benefited from this pushing vehemence against Romania. Numerous actions failed, which he underscored with many gestures. But due to the pressure that Can built up again and again with his dynamism and a striking number of technical wonders, the Bavarian winger always got a lot of space for his tempo dribbles. If he garnishes it with effectiveness, it can become a powerful weapon.
For Max it won’t be the EM
But that Can will keep the position is by no means a foregone conclusion. Even if Löw gave the games the task of “importing for the EM”. Because in the absence of the two left-wing duelists Marcel Halstenberg (isolation as Corona contact person) and Robin Gosens (injured), the coach’s options were very limited. Only Philip Max was available as a skilled craftsman. Also because he had proven to be too inexperienced internationally as a safeguard for Sané in the 6-0 debacle in Spain: It is very unlikely that Max is a candidate for the European Championship. Therefore, the plan with Can was quite understandable.
And it worked, as Löw attested to himself. “I found that he played very well, especially in the forward game, because he then dynamically went from defense to midfield and tied the opponent. He was very good on the ball, very strong physically,” praised the boss . “The Emre was right, really strong on the left.” And it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Löw remembers a successful retraining experiment on his last mission in the service of the DFB. In the 2014 World Cup triumph, he transformed Schalke’s Benedikt Höwedes in the “ox defense” from inside to left-back.
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