Sunday June 20th 2021
Trust in your own stubbornness
A compliment, Mr. Loew!
By Tobias Nordmann
The German national soccer team corrected their bad start against France in a remarkable way. With a courageous and sometimes furious performance, Portugal is played 4-2. Also because Löw remains true to his stubbornness. Is everything fine now?
It is not yet clear what that game against Portugal was like. An impressive liberation from the hopeless European Championship start against France (interpretations of “The Team” and some TV experts). Or a really good game with small but urgently needed weaknesses against an astonishingly weak defending champion. Well, the lowest common denominator has already been found. What the German national soccer team brought onto the lawn of the Munich arena on Saturday evening was strong. Does this start look familiar to you? Then you are right, the day before the game the report about the surprising instructions from the national coach started almost exactly like this. And that brings us to the really big topic of the second preliminary round game of “The Team”.
At least for those who have not been drowned in the wave of euphoria. For those who accepted that the win was really great. Very important. And at times also quite nice. But who realize in this euphoria that nothing has been won (good a game, of course), just as little as everything was lost after the defeat against France. Because it wasn’t. Apart from the mood. And trust in the team. And in the national coach. Before kick-off he had surprised everyone again. Perhaps it is too precise to say that once again he drove everyone to despair. Against Portugal he had called exactly those players into the starting line-up who had fought passionately against France, but without success. Without courage. It is better to avoid the mistake than to seek the risk. That was pretty frustrating for everyone involved. Of course, we are removing the French and their sympathizers from this calculation.
But after 90 minutes, after a really remarkable 4: 2 (2: 1) win against the defending champion for the playing legend Cristiano Ronaldo, no one seriously asks whether Leroy Sané would not have started better for Kai Havertz. And for the time being, hardly anyone dares to ask whether Joshua Kimmich would not be even more valuable in the center. Havertz was involved in three goals. He scored one himself, forced an own goal and initiated the third. Kimmich was also involved in three goals.
The situation is possibly different at İlkay Gündoğan. He made a solid game, which exposes him as one of the weaker Germans. Not weak, please understand correctly. But that’s not enough for the best player of the past Premier League season. The difference in performance between the Klub-Gündoğan and the DFB-Gündoğan is and remains immense. Which may also be due to his role in the team. For Germany he plays more defensively. Now it could actually be discussed again whether Leon Goretzka would not be a man for the starting XI. Although he was injured for a long time, he immediately showed his qualities after being substituted on: Power, dynamism, deep runs from the center and a massive finish. One brushed the bar. But Robin Gosens was the man in charge. A passionate power pack, always ready to go all the way. Sometimes a bit impetuous, like before the 0: 1, but always ahead when it comes to driving and clearing. He doesn’t shy away from a flank or a duel.
All good, but the winner is Löw
The biggest winner from a German perspective is Löw. Convinced of himself and his idea, he relied on the 3-4-3 system, which was heavily criticized against France. Did we just say that Löw surprised with his lineup? Pardon, that is of course complete nonsense. Because if the national coach has been accompanied by something consistently over the years, it is his impressive stubbornness to bow to the public opinion. One can also take that of the stability of opinion. Or just conviction. That he took the risk of exposing himself to brutal criticism after a second defeat, that he took the risk that people would finally turn away from the Löw national team after a second defeat (well, the era will soon be over), all of that is quite remarkable. A compliment for that, Mr. Loew!
Is everything alright now? Of course not. It is an act of courtesy not to climb into the shaft with the miner’s lamp after this furious victory and dig something critical out of this achievement. But that’s the way it is: This victory was important, but it is completely irrelevant if the last group game against Hungary is messed up. World champion France found out on Saturday afternoon how easily this is possible. The 1: 1 despite oppressive superiority is an embarrassment. No question. Hungary is guaranteed to be low against Germany, hope for a counterattack, for standards. Germany will get less space against Hungary, the spaces will be narrower because there will be little or no pressure from the opponents in counter-pressing. It gets tighter in the center. And for the outside. Like against France. The keyword is overflow.
Will the 3-4-3 system actually be the right one against Hungary? Löw won’t be concerned with that. He had moderated the system debate the day before the game and immediately before kick-off. That is not so important. It’s about spaces, dangerous spaces. It’s about dynamism, about intensity and about courage. The system is flexible, not the tasks of the players. And it is up to them to implement the requirements. Against the Portuguese it worked brilliantly. Kimmich accepted the role on the right and was second best man. According to Gosens. Havertz knocked himself into every duel, which made this game a bit strange for him. Because he is not known as a robust clearer. And he’s not good as a sweeper either. Proof of the 0: 1. Disoriented, he ran first towards the counterattack and then after it. But he was great on the offensive. Always present, always interested in good solutions, in combinations, in degrees. The opponent also made it easy for the DFB team. Or let’s say: the opponent made it easier for the DFB team than the French.
It gets shaky in the end
The midfield was a lost zone there. A man more in the center would have done well. This view doesn’t change even after game two. Now the plan worked wonderfully. Toni Kroos, whose regular place in the team is almost as controversial as the national coach himself, organized very well. He walked long distances, even helped out with tackles. But it also became clear that this team has some players who cannot be replaced. One of them is Mats Hummels. Against France, the man who decided everything in a bitter way, he now decided almost everything in an overwhelming way. Until his replacement (63rd), something was on his knee, he answered all open questions about why he is the head of the defense. Incidentally, he wasn’t the only one who complained about aches and pains and had to get out, as Löw later admitted. Without Hummels it was 2: 4 (67th). Without him, the defense no longer seemed so sovereign. The pressure from the Portuguese was also greater. The fact that it was again uneasy for Germany is also a story of this game. Even Kroos, the sovereign, did not manage to take the hustle and bustle out of the German game. And what would have happened if Renato Sanches had hammered all his anger into the goal instead of at the post with a long-range shot? Well, he didn’t. No matter.
Or maybe not. Bad standards remain an issue. Bad in your own execution. Bad at defending opposing lines. A corner preceded the shot by Sanches. Thomas Müller, who was committed and annoying for the Portuguese, but not always happy in his actions, said: “We had a lot of good aspects, but also a lot of things that we still have to improve. That can cost points in the end. Now we have the three points, now we are good in the tournament. Now we mustn’t overtax or become arrogant – but we can believe in our quality. ” And what does Löw say? How satisfied was he with himself and his plan? “The task was to generate other power on the offensive. That was exactly what was implemented very well, that the right spaces were used, that we did not slow down.”
Briefly back to the initial question: What was this game against Portugal now? An impressive release from the hopeless European Championship start against France? Or a really good game with small but urgently needed weaknesses against an astonishingly weak defending champion? Both.
.