Nagelsmann’s all-in plan works: one scene shows the immeasurable influence of Toni Kroos

There are less than 90 days until the opening game of the European Football Championship. There has been speculation for a long time about the shape of the DFB team. The test match against France shows that there could be hope for the home tournament – also thanks to a returnee.

What Toni Kroos brings to the DFB team can hardly be expressed in statistics. That’s what became apparent in the German national soccer team’s 2-0 win against runner-up France. No number explains it, no graphic shows it. They are brief moments that are omnipresent and yet easy to miss. This also includes moments when Toni Kroos doesn’t have the ball.

Around the 27th minute: Superstar Kylian Mbappé, whom they celebrate in every action in Lyon, dribbles his way past Joshua Kimmich and Jamal Musiala. He tries to play a pass, but it doesn’t roll towards a Frenchman, but rather towards DFB defender Antonio Rüdiger. But what should he do with it? Even before the ball has reached him, Toni Kroos has already decided what to do next.

Rüdiger takes the ball and looks up. A few meters in front of him, approached by two Frenchmen, is Kroos. The arms are spread out with the palms down, the Real Madrid conductor indicates: Silence! Rüdiger therefore pushes the ball to his central defender colleague Jonathan Tah. He, in turn, has time, but no idea where to pass the ball. Kroos notices this. A quick look over his shoulder, then he says: Play the ball to Robert Andrich, he’s free. He constantly guides his teammates and literally sets the direction.

Farewell to “Querpass-Toni”

Of course, Toni Kroos’ return to the DFB team can also be described with numbers: 107th international match, 143 ball contacts, 95 percent successful passes. This obviously includes influential moments, even the first touch of the ball leads to luck: It is the remarkable assist before the eight-second 1-0 to Florian Wirtz, the fastest goal in DFB history. However, the little moments are just as important. The visibly happy DFB debutant Deniz Undav sums it up in the catacombs of Lyon’s Groupama Stadium: Kroos is the best German midfielder, “people can be happy that he has changed his mind again and is playing for us here.”

In the summer of 2021, Toni Kroos announced his resignation from the DFB team. The 34-year-old was vilified as a “cross-passing Toni” and his qualities were not valued in Germany. In addition to the fading memory of winning the title in 2014, his name was also associated with the three crisis tournaments: the World Cup in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, the Corona European Championship in 2021. Together with national coach Joachim Löw, his most influential player also left.

Elsewhere, however, Kroos has always been appreciated: he has been part of Real Madrid’s central midfield for ten years now. There he works like a quarterback who directs and controls the game. After five Champions League titles, he is receiving the recognition in Spain with the Royals that he did not get in Germany for a long time. But that’s not important to Kroos, he has now found peace, he said before the France game. “I don’t think I have to prove anything to anyone.”

The eight-second shock

Now Kroos is back. And how. He steers, he directs, he also fouls when necessary. Kroos played exceptionally well, said national coach Julian Nagelsmann. “The likeable thing about him is that he said from the first minute of the first phone call that he was not the only savior.” And yet he gives the DFB team something that was previously missing. İlkay Gündoğan is the captain, but the boss is Toni Kroos. When he was substituted in the 89th minute, he also received applause from the French audience.

In fact, it is not just Toni Kroos who is allowing the faint hope of a successful European Championship to continue to flourish. Nagelsmann took a lot of risks: a radical change in the squad, the completely rebuilt midfield, the many newcomers. His actions could have gone wrong. Instead, the game against France shows that in the European Championship year he seems to have led the DFB team on the right path. “We wanted to radiate joy of life, that’s what we did,” says Nagelsmann afterwards.

Because the doubts only lasted eight seconds, that’s how long it took for the Germans to take the lead. The atmospheric French fans, who had previously been warmed up with an elaborate show, needed ten minutes to process the shock. Suddenly even the 950 or so German fans who had traveled with us could be heard. The French national team remained paralyzed even longer than their supporters. They barely took part in the game until the 20th minute. It became clear: the runner-up world champion is still far from the European Championship form that evening.

“Put the indicator on”

Instead, others in the DFB team show what they can do. When Ter Stegen, the number two for the European Championship, one-handed against Mbappé, one would have thought that the injured number one Manuel Neuer was in goal. Joshua Kimmich shines against Mbappé as a right-back, on the other hand France’s Ousmane Dembélé plays the debutant Maximilian Mittelstädt dizzy at times, but the VfB star does a decent job and finds his way into the game after initial difficulties.

But one duo in particular stands out: the two magicians Musiala and Wirtz. Before the France game they had been on the field for a total of 270 minutes, but never was it as fun, as entertaining, as worth seeing as on this Saturday evening in Lyon. The dribbling in tight spaces, the passes into very dangerous zones, the courage to take special actions: Even if everything hasn’t worked out yet, it makes you want more.

Nevertheless: Substitute Niclas Füllkrug warns against falling into superlatives again. Captain Gündoğan noted that although the performance was “very good”, there was still room for improvement. Simple balls are often lost in the build-up of the game, and this could be painful against a team in better shape – especially since the defensive midfield with Kroos and Robert Andrich doesn’t necessarily shine with speed.

On Tuesday (9 p.m./RTL and ntv.de live ticker) The Netherlands are waiting – the next difficult test match. “It will be important to confirm this game, regardless of the result, it’s about the manner. We want to see courage to make decisions and shape the game knowing that mistakes can happen,” said Nagelsmann. “We’ve set the indicator towards the home European Championships – it would be good if we keep pushing.”