A year and a half before the home World Cup, the German Football Association (DFB) does not want to get involved in any experiments in the coaching position. In addition, a sports director must be found.
German footballers continue to dance to Hansi Flick’s tune.
Some messages, although written in bureaucratic language, leave you speechless. For example, the one from the German Football Association (DFB), with which the continuation of the contractual relationship with national coach Hansi Flick was announced on Wednesday. The core is quickly summarized: After a relatively short discussion, the discourse leaders in the DFB came to the conclusion that Flick is still the right man.
The whole thing happened, at least officially, without any reservations, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said: “We have full confidence in Hansi Flick that he will master this challenge together with his team.”
Indifferent image in the media
Such a leap of faith comes as a surprise given what happened at the World Cup in Qatar. Especially since Flick mourns his buddy Oliver Bierhoff, the DFB director, who announced his resignation shortly after returning home. The response to Flick’s continued employment is divided, and the mood in the German media is indifferent.
The “Frankfurter Allgemeine”, for example, summarizes what happened in one succinct sentence: It seems as if you have experienced it all before. Others argue that Flick deserves a second chance if he is willing to reinvent himself.
In fact, what is happening seems oddly familiar. Only this time everything goes much faster. And unlike his predecessor Joachim Löw, Flick will certainly not be given several opportunities to reinvent himself. A failure at the European Championships in one and a half years in your own country – it doesn’t have to be in the preliminary round – would probably mean the end.
However, there is little to no evidence that Flick could be able to bring about the big turnaround. To do this, he would have to make personnel decisions that would be extremely uncomfortable. The obvious special position of Leon Goretzka, for example, who came on for the excellent Ilkay Gündogan in the first game against Japan, is one of them.
The failure in Qatar was not only due to the home-grown atmosphere because of the discussions about the captain’s armband. It’s not just down to the almost obsessive concern with punctuation. It’s also about crafts. And Flick wasn’t convincing.
Watzke also waves the decision through
In this respect, it would be interesting to find out why an insider like the Dortmund club boss Hans-Joachim Watzke, as a member of the DFB presidium, did not veto. The only explanation that seems halfway plausible is that there is simply a lack of alternatives.
Especially since the DFB would have a double blank. After Bierhoff’s departure, he also has to find a sports director who actually tries to get back to the core business. This is also a difficult task, especially since a valid candidate like Matthias Sammer would only like to work in an advisory capacity and Fredi Bobic, currently manager at Hertha Berlin, has already waved it off.
Apparently, the concern that they would end up with two empty hands pushed the DFB officials to a solution that no one with football expertise can support. Meanwhile, Hansi Flick said he and his coaching team were “optimistic about the European Championship in their own country”.