Where was Jogi Löw that evening? Three days ago they said goodbye to him with a big check, Mats Hummels even had a matching coat made especially for him. And now, in cold Yerevan, where you could have worn two of these coats on top of each other, no one talked about the ex who had probably stayed in front of the TV in Freiburg, Germany – to see how Hansi Flick successfully finished what he was doing , Löw, had started with medium success in the spring. With a 4-1 (2-0) win in Armenia, the national team decided the qualification campaign for the World Cup in Qatar, which will start on November 21, 2022 in a good year. SZ forecast: Checkered coats, after all, will not be needed there.
“We have made this good end, so I can only congratulate the team,” said Flick after the game. With seven wins in seven games, Flick has now delivered, as they say, and the delivery was so confident that you have forgotten the terms and conditions under which the new national coach originally took over the contract. His predecessor Löw had plopped part of the load from the truck in the first few meters of qualification, after a defeat against North Macedonia the DFB-Elf was only third in the group when Flick started work. Flick led the team to Qatar so quickly that the last two games were only of limited competition character – in another respect the World Cup was already very present that evening in Yerevan.
The team must continue to work on the counter-protection
Flick had lost so many players in the past few days that the final game turned into an unplanned casting event. Marc-Andé ter Stegen, for example, took over the post between the posts after Flick had previously achieved the gigantic feat of persuading Manuel Neuer to take a break from the game. Only four starting players from Thursday were again in the eleven, Thomas Müller played on the ten instead of the nine, Thilo Kehrer on the right back instead of in central defense, Jonas Hofmann on the right front instead of the right back. The Gladbach luxury reserve player Florian Neuhaus got his chance in midfield at the side of Ilkay Gündogan, and the later nominated Leverkusen player Jonathan Tah was allowed to heave his considerable body through the back rows again.
First goal of the evening: Kai Havertz with the outer instep.
(Photo: Pavel Golovkin / AP)
Another interesting duel took place that evening without the sports media reporting it, and the legendary Radio Yerevan found its master. It was defeated by Radio Müller, which was no shame, because its owner, Thomas Müller, has already chatted completely different opponents into the defeat. Müller’s monologue began before the whistle, as captain for one evening he was allowed to dispute the choice of seats, a quarter of an hour later he was already followed by action: He played an exquisite one-two with Jonas Hofmann and then probably commented in his mind as Hofmann whizzed away and the ball inside, where striker Kai Havertz pushed the ball into the goal with his left outside instep.
“Let the ball run, play flat”, Hansi Flick could be heard a few minutes later, but it was not a post-comment of the opening goal for Radio Müller, it was a request from a coach who apparently noticed that his team was opening with their opening goal made it a bit too cozy. The DFB-Elf let the Armenians come back into the game, and Flick got a few scenes that he can send his players to the home office as illustrative material. The lessons will revolve around the technical terms “counter-protection” and “residual defense”, which Flicks national players have now neglected a little. But the Armenians, despite the cooperation of the former Dortmund resident Hendrikh Mkhitaryan, were not dangerous enough to give the Germans a more unpleasant evening. At the break there was hardly any doubt about the winner of the evening: Gündogan converted a penalty in stoppage time that referee Letexier (France) had imposed belatedly after consulting the TV court.
Goalkeeper ter Stegen remains unhappy in the DFB jersey
Radio Müller unfortunately had sound problems after the break, they would have liked to hear Thomas Müller commenting on the valentinesque mistake made by the Armenian goalkeeper Buchnev, who let Gündogan’s little roller slip into the gate (50th). Although his colleague ter Stegen held up flawlessly, his appearance in the DFB jersey still looks as if it was being conducted by a malicious force. Although he was clearly powerless in the Armenian connection goal, a penalty from Mkhitaryan (59th), Ter Stegen has now conceded 100 percent of all DFB goals in the World Cup qualification (4/4). However, the team did not let this hit sit on them for long, Flick can send the pictures of Hofmann’s goal to 4: 1 (64th) to the home office for motivation purposes. Havertz and the substitute casting candidates Julian Brandt and Lukas Nmecha had previously provoked an opponent’s ball loss with eager counter-pressing.
The DFB-Elf will now pause for four months, the association is currently negotiating to present two big opponents for the test matches in March. SZ forecast: Manuel Neuer will then play again. And Jogi Löw will probably watch.