The debutant Marius Wolf had only been a national player for 120 seconds when he had such a bad pass in the 3rd minute of the international match against Peru in front of his own penalty area that it could have resulted in a goal or a defeat – and shortly after the World Cup humiliation in Qatar, at worst, another setback for German football.
If the Peruvian André Carrillo had used the template of the 27-year-old right-back from Borussia Dortmund, then the DFB team might not have defeated the South Americans, then Wolf would not have received any praise for his debut and then the football republic would probably ponder it now that you have an unchanged right-back problem 14 months before the home EM 2024. After all, Wolf is the eighth player in this position in the 20-month era of national coach Hansi Flick.
On Saturday evening, however, the Peruvian Carrillo frittered away his early scoring opportunity. Instead, Marius Wolf’s bad pass turned out to be a salutary warning shot for the German defensive. And Wolf himself – currently the best German right-back from league leaders BVB – set up a great goal for Niclas Füllkrug in the 33rd minute, which turned out to be a direct hit to make it 2-0. “Very, very good” was Wolf’s premiere, according to an expert, from whose appropriate expertise you only had to subtract a bit of BVB proximity, because it was Dortmund central defender Nico Schlotterbeck.
“He sparked a lot of dynamism,” praised the national coach.
“The first five minutes were a bit hectic,” Wolf admitted with a smile as the premiere was over, “but after that I enjoyed the game and I’m happy too.” The largely convincing tenth debutant in Flick’s tenure was of crucial importance – as a right-back running up and down in a 4-2-2-2 system tried for the first time by the national team.
The Leipzig David Raum on the left and Wolf on the right not only formed the wings, but also the wings of an airplane, which should one day resemble a jumbo jet. So far, the DFB construct is more like a propeller plane. In any case, Flick was also impressed by Marius Wolf. “He sparked a lot of dynamism,” said the coach, describing the fulfillment of his expectations: “His goal preparation ended up right between the defense and the goalkeeper – as it should be.”
So the overall system still needs some optimizations towards the European Championship. The next stop is this Tuesday in Cologne (8.45 p.m.), where you will face Belgium, fourth in the world rankings. It is there that Wolf will likely get his next chance to prove himself on the right wing and give the national team the feeling that there might be a solution to a long-standing problem.