Magical “Talents of the Century”
Toni Kroos’ additional DFB role
By Sebastian Schneider
March 20, 2024, 11:05 a.m
There are less than 90 days until the start of the European Football Championship in your own country. It is slowly becoming clear how national coach Julian Nagelsmann wants the team to play. Returnee Toni Kroos could play a special role; for him it is also about two talents of the century.
It’s not as if the German national soccer team doesn’t have enough tasks. The DFB team and the European Championship in their own country have a to-do list that goes far beyond sport: shaking off the ghost of the last three crisis tournaments, reaching at least the knockout round, euphoria overall Ignite the country, write a summer fairy tale 2.0, bring people together again, save democracy, reconcile the entire continent.
But, as is the case in life, the small tasks have to be done before the big ones. There are enough of them: Most of the 23 national players have their own personal requirements for the European Championship – especially when it comes to work on the pitch. National coach Julian Nagelsmann recently made it clear that he has fixed roles in mind that must be fulfilled by the actors involved.
One of them is Toni Kroos. After more than 1,000 days, the 34-year-old will face France on Saturday (9 p.m./ZDF and in the ntv.de live ticker) to appear for the national soccer team again for the first time. After the 2021 European Championship, he resigned after the crisis in the national team also affected him. But Kroos is back for the home European Championships. He should conduct the DFB orchestra with similar precision as he has done with the royal ensemble at Real Madrid for almost a decade.
Become “typically German” again
The goal is to become “typically German” again, Kroos initially joked on Tuesday and then meant it seriously. In the past, he explained, “that was when you were successful.” And continued: “We want to go there again!” After the messed up tournaments in Qatar in 2022, in Russia in 2018, the European Championship in 2021 and the unsuccessful international year in 2023, there has recently been talk of humility rather than a spirit of optimism.
However, the question remains: How can we become successful again? This is the biggest task of the DFB team. National coach Julian Nagelsmann already indicated this when the squad was announced last week: a radically restructured squad that should work with clear distribution of roles. What awaits you is more than just being a conductor: Kroos himself defined his task not only as directing the DFB team’s game with millimeter-precise passes, but also far beyond that.
Kroos should also become a stage builder so that others can shine – namely the two great hopes of German football at the moment: Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. “It’s exactly these guys that we want to put in position, and that’s logically my job,” said Kroos. They should not be easily passed by any opposing defensive player. “We have to get them to play the football they have in their legs,” explained the 34-year-old. “They should be fun for all of us and not drowned out.”
Anyone who follows the Bundesliga closely (by the way, Kroos says he doesn’t) knows what he means. Musiala and Wirtz, 21 and 20 years old, are no longer insider tips but the most exciting thing German football currently has to offer. There seem to be no rules for them; they do magic in their own world. One, Musiala, stands out at FC Bayern again after a few weak months with his snake-like, miraculous dribbling. It’s hard for his opponents to catch him because he’s so lively, lively and agile. The other, Wirtz, has developed a feel for the smallest of spaces at the sensational team Bayer Leverkusen that very few people currently have. After tearing his cruciate ligament two years ago, he also seems to have gained weight again.
Where to put the “talents of the century”?
But it’s not just Toni Kroos’ mission to build a stage for the two artists. Rather, it is a task for the entire national team and national coach Nagelsmann. Because the midfield will become the heart of the radically restructured DFB team. The signs now point to how this is supposed to work: Wirtz and Musiala shine at the front, with Kroos and two other DFB stars behind them. Kroos explained that the headquarters should “bring all facets with it”. A different mix of all qualities, just as he has known it from Real for years.
In practice this means: In addition to Kroos, the link between defense and offense, you also need a representative of each extreme. İlkay Gündoğan is presumably placed as captain in the offensive ten position. He also has a very personal mission: for years he was a mainstay at Man City, and no national coach in the DFB team has yet found the right role for him. However, because Kroos and Gündoğan are vulnerable defensively, they need reinforcements. As workers, it could be either Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich or Brighton’s Pascal Groß.
This leaves one crucial question for the national coach: Where does he position Wirtz and Musiala? And how? And who should play around it? The two “talents of the century,” as record national player Lothar Matthäus dubbed them, only played 270 minutes together in their entire careers. The surprising thing is that it was national coach Nagelsmann who tried out the combination twice on the trip to the USA.
The question is: should they play together? Nagelsmann only sees three so-called ten positions in his system offensively, one of which is already occupied by Gündoğan. That would mean the remaining two would be reserved for Wirtz and Musiala. But: Both feel more at home on the edge of the box, less on the outside lines like classic wingers. Doesn’t this result in a loss of width?
The next two international matches against France and the Netherlands will probably answer these questions. And one thing makes Nagelsmann’s puzzle a lot easier: winger Leroy Sané is suspended after his red card in the friendly against Austria. This gives the national coach more room to try things out. Because finding the right roles is probably his most important task.