Who saves the EM? After the failure of the World Cup, the national coach also messed up the start of the home tournament in 2024. Patron Völler calls Flick “the poorest sow” and suddenly aims at the players.
At the absolute low point in the mood, Hansi Flick also claimed a third chance as national coach without any apparent self-doubt. And that after his pitiful World Cup failure and the equally botched start to the home European Championship.
“I can promise that we will see a different team in September,” said Flick. At the same time, Rudi Völler, his most important patron saint, raised another “quality issue” at the end of the national soccer team’s test match fiasco.
The DFB sports director and ex-team boss aimed completely at the players after the 0: 2 against Colombia. Flick, on the other hand, was “in the end the poorest sow” as a coach, said the 63-year-old. Was it just a diversionary maneuver after the job guarantee he had previously announced for Flick in the event of the next defeat, which promptly occurred?
In the dressing room, the national coach, in Völler’s presence, said a few words to his team, which was not suitable for the European Championship, before the players around Champions League winner Ilkay Gündogan disappeared as quickly as possible on vacation that night. Many questions remained, to which the DFB decision-makers around DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, league boss Hans-Joachim Watzke and crisis manager Völler have to give answers in the almost three months until the next international matches against Japan and France.
Flick excludes personal consequences
According to the experiences in the late phase of Flick’s predecessor Joachim Löw, who after the World Cup preliminary round in Russia in 2018 up to the knockout of the European Championship in the round of 16 three years later, could never ignite the reversal thrust, it should actually be a simple continuation forbid. Jürgen Klopp would immediately make German fan hearts beat faster, but is still tied to Liverpool FC. Julian Nagelsmann would at least be free after his release from FC Bayern. Stefan Kuntz? Ralph Rangnick? Roger Smith?
But that doesn’t seem to be an issue for now. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf is not planning a crisis summit for the task force set up after the failed World Cup. “I believe that the experience of our sports director Rudi Völler will help. But assume that I am in constant contact with him, with Hans-Joachim Watzke and the DFB committees,” Neuendorf told the “Bild”. The national coach assured him in a phone call that “in September we will see a team that performs differently than last time,” said Neuendorf.
In the press room of the Schalke Arena, Flick was asked on Wednesday night whether he ruled out personal consequences. “Of course it’s a situation for me that I haven’t experienced in this form before. I love winning games very, very much. And I really hate to lose,” replied the 58-year-old. “I said I would go this way uncompromisingly in June,” he added. And: “I just enjoy preparing a team for a tournament.” No, Flick doesn’t want to clear the way himself. He considers the massive loss of trust – especially among the fans – to be repairable. “I’m sure the fans want to see us,” he said. Does “us” also include him?
After the shocking patchwork in the 3-3 win against Ukraine, the 0-1 in Poland and the defeat against snappy Colombians, which was acknowledged with whistles from more than 50,000 spectators, the DFB head coach admitted that his experimental course with system changes and amazing personnel castling was a failure. “If we get to the point, it went haywire. What we tried didn’t work in this form,” said Flick, who died after goals from Luis Diaz from Liverpool FC and Juan Cuadrado from Juventus Turin crouched petrified on the edge of the field with a penalty kick.
What followed were commendations for improvement that sounded like perseverance slogans. In the fall, “they will try to really tie down and name a tribe of 10, 12, 14 players,” announced Flick. It should then also be clear who is number one in each position. Twelve months before the EM, however, there is no framework, let alone an EM-Elf. Manuel Neuer? Serge Gnabry? Mario Götze? Thomas Müller? Niklas Sule? Who will Flick bring back in the fall? Especially since Völler suddenly denied a number of players in the current squad the EM format – unfortunately without naming names.
Völler criticizes DFB players
“One or the other lacks top quality,” said Völler. “We have some good players who are on the top of the shelf. But we also have some players who won’t make it to the European Championship.” boom! Völler also criticized the passion: “It was like a World Cup game for the Colombians.” You have to make sure “that you invite the right players to the next international match,” he said.
Flick did not say who will receive an invitation again if they can continue to extend it in September. He dodged. “We take a close look to see who has met our expectations and who hasn’t. Emotionally, it wouldn’t be the time for me to say something now.”
The DFB bosses still stand by him. Apparently he didn’t lose the players who (can’t) deliver in Flick’s test setups either. “We have absolute confidence in him,” said goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen. However, Leon Goretzka called the situation “dramatic”, Robin Gosens spoke of a “negative vortex”. But there are also calls for help from the team. Defensive player Can named an immediate measure if he had something to say: “Back four! We saw that we are not a team that can play back three.”
Only Ribbeck was worse
The balance sheet of the national coaches/DFB team bosses:
PlaceCoachGamesPoints1.Berti Vogts1022,182.Jupp Derwall672,153.Helmut Schön1392,104.Joachim Löw1982,085.Jürgen Klinsmann342,006.Otto Nerz701,947.Rudi Völler531,898.Sepp Herberger1671,859.Franz Beckenbauer6 61.8510.Hansi Flick241, 7911. Erich Ribbeck 241.50