“I have to apologize”
For the DFB team: Toni Kroos ignored his mom
February 22, 2024, 4:23 p.m
With Toni Kroos at the home European Championships and Germany becomes European champions? The returnee himself puts a stop to these expectations. He explains in his podcast with his brother Felix why he succumbed to national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s lure and what his mother had to do with it.
Toni Kroos justified his return to the German national football team primarily with “very good discussions” with national coach Julian Nagelsmann. “Julian contacted me and asked me if I could imagine it, something that hadn’t been in my head until then,” said the 2014 world champion in his podcast “Just Luppen” with brother Felix. “The fact that the national coach calls and says that I am needed for the tournament in my own country is an incentive.”
Such a request “doesn’t leave him indifferent” and is also “a great confirmation” of his current performance at Real Madrid. The 34-year-old explained that with every subsequent conversation with the national coach he “became more and more pregnant” with the idea, “with the result of being available for this tournament.” Kroos spoke of a “significant decision” for him, in which he and Nagelsmann in particular had to come to a “common denominator”: “So you have to have the feeling that it fits and that something can come of it. Otherwise you’re not allowed to do it make.”
When making his decision, he also acted against the advice of his mother Birgit. “Of course she said I shouldn’t do that, so of course I have to apologize now.” His wife Jessica supported the decision, “like everything in our lives,” said Kroos: “And I think grandpa will now wear the Germany jersey all the time.”
After more than two and a half years of international break, he feels physically ready for a comeback: “Full speed ahead.” However, Kroos warned against having too high expectations. “Of course I want to help. But I’m definitely not the savior. Everyone can say goodbye to that straight away,” said the midfielder, who resigned from the DFB team after the 2021 European Championship after 106 international matches: “You shouldn’t think “That this trick will make us favorites. That’s nonsense.”
But he wants to be “a cog that hopefully meshes with another, which then works.” With a view to the home European Championships next summer, he is “very, very happy” with his decision. He will play for the national team again at the international games in France and against the Netherlands in March.