The German national soccer team is experiencing a year to forget. She uses phrases to defend herself against the impending crash into dreary no man’s land. The offspring is also weakening and suffers from the same problems as the senior team. What’s going on in German football?
First, Colombia had plunged the German national team into the deepest conceivable summer depression, then there were loud whistles and initial statements against the continued employment of national coach Hansi Flick and finally plenty of ridicule. The triad of an unfolding crisis that, like the snaring bindweed, claws at everything, crushes everything. In the parallel European Championship qualifier, Poland had made a fool of themselves, after a 2-0 lead they lost 2-3 in Moldova, at 171st in the world rankings.
The same Poles against whom Germany had found no solutions a few days earlier and had lost 1-0. Moldova found a solution three times. Bitter German football reality on the evening of June 20, 2023, reeling in nirvana, at the same time in the clutches of the fence winds, instead of happily drunk on the way to the European Championships at home next year. Germany has been in the official world rankings since Thursday behind the USA, Switzerland, behind Morocco and Mexico only in 15th place.
In September, that’s the last straw, things will get better. Then the performance principle finds its way back into German football. Then there will be a core of players who can turn the European Championships into a sporting dream. At least that’s what national coach Flick swears by when asked about the crisis by concerned President Bernd Neuendorf. But his words lack the trust of the audience. The nightmare scenario seems more likely to people.
Only his bosses still believe that everything will turn out for the better. At least that’s what they say. Above all, Rudi Völler, the DFB director, who, when he returned, was actually supposed to become a beloved liaison with the fans and has now risen to become the top crisis manager. His strategy: to appease and solicit trust. His problem (I): The German national team is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the people in the country. And where there is neither anger nor happiness, there is actually no longer any basis. His problem (II): He doesn’t have the fodder to give people the hope of a summer fairy tale he ordered himself.
German U21 breaks his legs
Because the German football season ends with another debacle. After the embarrassment of the senior team at the World Cup in Qatar, the U21s are still out as defending champions in the preliminary round. In a group that, with the exception of England, hadn’t been identified as particularly difficult. Germany broke both legs against the Czech Republic (1-2) and Israel (1-1). The football giant DFB is clattering towards a future far away from the top of the world. What the English footballers put on the pitch in Wednesday’s final group game against coach Antonio Di Salvo’s side was a different game.
Yes, the U21s were missing a few top players. Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, and Malick Thiaw were part of Flick’s series of experiments and at least the latter two even managed a few moments that provided colorful pixels in the black vision of the future. Other important men were missing with Armel Bella-Kotchap, Felix Nmecha and Karim Adeyemi. But are these good as fast heroes for a home fairy tale in the coming summer? And otherwise? Talents, of course. But outstanding? Rather not. Management? Even less. “11Freunde” editor-in-chief Philipp Köster told ntv: “We are no longer competitive in international football, especially in the youth field.”
And how significant is it that the currently greatest talent, Musiala, was not trained in Germany but in England? Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of the national teams, announced on Wednesday that other countries had hastened. “The worst case scenario has arrived. That’s not enough if you want to become European champions and qualify for the Olympic Games. As a football nation you have to behave differently. The pace of the game and one-on-one: Those are exactly the issues we already know have been preaching and denouncing for a long time. Other nations are ahead of us there. We still have a lot of work to do in order not to miss the connection to the world leaders.” However, he also asked “not to bury German football”. The senior national team, under Joachim Löw and his successor Flick, was particularly disappointing with the World Cup debacles in 2018 and 2022. The U21s, on the other hand, were a reliable supplier of success and enthusiasm under Stefan Kuntz with three finals and two titles. “We always have fluctuations,” said Chatzialexiou.
All this is the embellished reading. The much more realistic one is: the connection has long since been lost. Not hopeless yet, but the gap is there. Just like the deficits that the teams carry around with them. Which, by the way, goes down to the U19s, who didn’t even qualify for the European Championship this year. The senior national team and the U21s in particular lack speed, courage, conviction, assertiveness and concentration. Again and again, individual mistakes lead to setbacks and goals conceded.
“We’re fed up”
And there is no one who lets believe in an upswing. The fans chanted, “We’re fed up.” There is a massive lack of leaders. Where are they supposed to come from? In clubs, players are getting fewer and fewer opportunities when transitioning from youth to seniors. According to statistics from “Sportschau”, the percentage of German U23 players deployed in the Bundesliga fell from a good 20 percent to 6. Experts and officials have been warning for years that something needs to change in German talent training. The DFB has been trying to implement reforms with the Future Project since 2018. But this is also very difficult because of the many interests at all levels.
DFB Vice President Ronny Zimmermann announced immediately after the preliminary round knockout. a rethink. “All the performance centers will have to change their content. You definitely have to do that,” said Zimmermann in Batumi on DFB-TV. Next U-turn? Ex-national player Mehmet Scholl had sharply criticized the youth concept two and a half years ago. He “had the great pleasure of reading the paper,” Scholl said picture live, “After ten pages I put it down. It made me tired. But it will be successful because everyone involved in it will keep their jobs.” According to Chatzialexiou, nations like France, Spain and Portugal, where youth are less concerned with results than with development, should be role models for the future. However, the implementation in Germany takes “much too long. We are much too slow.”
Above all, the appearance against the clearly superior English (0:2) made Vice Zimmermann ponder. “This speed, the duel strength that the Czechs already had. You have to make corrections on a few essential points.” The gap between U21 and senior team is and remains very big. From the European champion team of 2021 only Nico Schlotterbeck, David Raum, Wirtz and Adeyemi are now regularly there, but more on probation than as established regulars.
No hierarchy for a long time
An axis like that of the 2014 World Cup is nowhere in sight. From Manuel Neuer to heroic defense Mats Hummels and Jérôme Boateng and midfield chiefs Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos and Sami Khedira to attacking leaders Thomas Müller and Miroslav Klose a stable hierarchy has developed over the years, which defied all resistance. The brave Algerians, the strong French and the aggressive Argentines. Flick does not have such a robust collective (anymore). Because a player like Neuer is injured, because other old heroes like Müller and Hummels no longer seem interesting enough for the national coach.
So everything focuses on Joshua Kimmich. He’s the face of the hyped 95/96 generation that won the 2017 Confederations Cup and fueled hope for a golden future. After that it was just failure. Critical warnings were ignored or dismissed. National coach Löw and director Oliver Bierhoff suffered fits of arrogance that were severely punished. On and off the field. The national team became an unapproachable artificial product. Vulnerable at all levels. Löw and Bierhoff are history, the crisis continues, the “dark clouds” still hang low in the DFB sky. The upswing under Flick only lasted in his debut year and there against opponents with whom one does not want to be put on an equal footing: Liechtenstein, Armenia, North Macedonia, among others. Since then: unstoppable sadness.
Rudi Völler, the hard-working crisis manager, recently confessed with remarkable honesty that perhaps there was simply a lack of quality. After the bankruptcy against Colombia, he practically threw out several national players. Without naming names, he said that some of them will not be seen again in the holy September, when everything must be done. It may also affect some candidates from the 95/96 generation, about whom Kimmich exuberantly judged after the Confederation Cup triumph: “We saw what we were made of, what potential we have.”
Celebrated too early, not enough delivered
However, the potential is now also being judged more critically. And even more about attitude and consistency. Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry, for example, who can play everyone and everything to the ground on a good day, are not always so precise with the discipline. Last season they caused a stir as FC Bayern’s Larifari pros. Süle has to put up with the accusation from the national coach that he does not fully call up his skills. Flick had punished him for this very reason and had not nominated him. The list goes on. Julian Brandt can be a genius on the pitch or an incalculable risk for his team. And what about Leon Goretzka? So much talent, so great demands, so little return. The “Bild” newspaper headlined after the Confed Cup victory: “The best is yet to come”. A misconception? The generation was “glorified early”, wrote the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” – perhaps too early?
Now in their late 20s, the generation isn’t finished yet, but they don’t get many opportunities to keep the promise they once made in Russia. The European Championships at home next year, the 2026 World Cup maybe, but then? The early World Cup in Qatar was “not so easy to cope with,” said Kimmich, “because I’m personally associated with the failure. It’s not something you want to stand for.” Kimmich, chosen as the hero of this generation, had become a symbol of despair. The over-ambitious midfielder tried to solve the problems almost alone, but that didn’t help the team. More and more and more severe criticism rained down on him. He was accused of making the players next to him worse.
A defensive six at his side, stable full-backs and a striker, these are the big construction sites in German football. With Niclas Füllkrug, at least for the front line, there is an accurate man to fill the vacuum temporarily. But what does temporary mean? What’s coming? Youssoufa Moukoko, the once celebrated super talent, who does not make the transition to senior level without problems? Kevin Schade, who should first become an undisputed regular at Brentford FC? Or Paris Bruner? The Dortmunder scored 15 times in 18 games in the U17 national team and became European champion. At least a small colorful dab into the dark German football reality.