Thursday, July 8th, 2021
Trouble with Bundesliga clubs
Kuntz warns of Olympic “disgrace”
When the German men’s DFB entourage travels to Tokyo, no player from FC Bayern or Borussia Dortmund will be there. That annoys U21 national coach Stefan Kuntz. But none of that diminishes his anticipation for the Olympic Games.
U21 national coach Stefan Kuntz would like more support from the Bundesliga for the German Olympic footballers. On the one hand, he has understanding for the clubs, because the Olympics fall in the middle of the preparatory phase. But Germany should “not be embarrassed that there are not enough people to send 22 men to Tokyo, which unfortunately it looks like at the moment,” said Kuntz on the handball talk show “DHBspotlight”.
Kuntz had recently nominated only 19 players for the Summer Games in Tokyo, several players had previously canceled. In addition, the HSV player Josha Vagnoman apparently fails with a torn muscle fiber, as the “Hamburger Morgenpost” reports. The ex-national player therefore has a hard time setting an objective.
“I would like to wait with a prognosis until I have more feeling for the squads of the other nations,” said Kuntz in the broadcast of the German Handball Federation: “At the moment I’m still dealing with our squad because it is neither complete nor is it everything as I would like it to be. “
Anticipation despite staff worries
The DFB team will meet on July 12th, and one day later they will head to Japan. After a test against Honduras on July 17th, the game against Brazil will be serious on July 22nd in Yokohama. The other opponents in the preliminary round are Saudi Arabia and Ivory Coast. The anticipation is huge at Kuntz, despite the staff worries. “For me, the Olympics is the biggest and most unifying sporting event in the world,” he said.
“It would be good for us footballers,” said Kuntz, “if we meet other athletes in a tournament like this. If we can talk about their intrinsic motivation. If we find out what drives you to only train for one competition every four years . How do you manage to have a regular, normal professional life despite perhaps even more training units and more training than in football. Those are all questions that make me happy when my boys talk to the other athletes. “
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