When Bayer Leverkusen recently got into trouble at VfB Stuttgart due to Robert Andrich’s dismissal, the new coach reacted just right, according to the experienced sports director Rudi Völler – he changed another central defender. Völler liked several things about this trick at once: that Gerardo Seoane, as has always been the case, increased his coverage according to the occasion; that he didn’t do any castling as proof of his innovative creativity – and that he didn’t get the idea to replace Florian Wirtz. Leverkusen’s playmaker is only 18 years old, but he’s also the playmaker. Thanks to Wirtz, Bayer won the game at VfB 3-1, and he scored the decisive goal himself.
Florian Wirtz is currently in Macedonia on his third trip abroad with the national team, the third from last qualifying game for the 2022 World Cup will take place there on Monday evening, which, in the event of a win, should bring the DFB team admission to the still ominous tournament in Qatar . But on arrival, the players first encountered the wrong conditions. While the weather was like in the south when we took off in Hamburg, the weather in the south was Hamburg. Skopje offered rain, rain and more rain when the DFB charter arrived in the late afternoon, and the same stable program is planned for Monday, as is reported in taxi driver circles. Only for Wirtz does the outlook remain uncertain.
Wirtz has always played at Bayer, ever since Gerardo Seoane from Switzerland, with his strict coiffure, was there
In Leverkusen, the really still very young man is already in the rank of exposed importance, the coach must have good reasons not to field him, and so far he has obviously not thought of one – Wirtz has always been playing since the heavily coiffed Swiss Gerardo Seoane has been here. Which is why it must have been an almost irritating experience for the midfielder that he didn’t play at all in the 2-1 victory of the national team on Friday evening in Hamburg.
There are many questions from the crowd of media people that Jogi Löw will definitely not miss at his retirement home in Freiburg; Often the questions were justified, but repeating them over and over again was a nuisance. For a while, Löw had to constantly explain why he had still not allocated a regular place to the super talent Kai Havertz. The cast list actually provided enough information, established colleagues had a certain priority, and even Löw, the world’s longest-serving national coach, did not receive the special permission to field a twelfth man.
Symbolic image for the caress that is often quoted in football: national coach Hansi Flick (left) in an exchange with Marco Reus.
(Photo: Marcus Brandt / dpa)
Löw’s successor is gradually finding himself in a similar position. On Friday evening, at the behest of Hansi Flick, not only Wirtz sat on the bench, but also Thomas Müller, who has had an almost official game-always-status for a decade. Müller didn’t have to complain about his unfamiliar seat because, in addition to Wirtz, Kai Havertz was also sitting next to him. Marco Reus, who was preferred to the trio, uttered the appropriate words after the game: “The competitive situation is definitely there – but that’s how it should be.” You push each other on. The explosive story ended with a happy ending on Friday. Havertz and Müller came as substitutes, the Munich player then scored the winning goal in his eccentric and skilful way, countering Flick’s initial statement to prefer Marco Reus with his own statement. In September he was absent due to an injury, now he spoke of a “sugar-sweet short comeback”.
The tens on their teams used to be men of fateful importance
Flick has a “ten problem”, claims some experts, referring to all the central offensive players who do not fit into the scheme at the same time, because the two double modules Joshua Kimmich & Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry & Leroy Sané have to be accommodated and in front the head Timo Werner, for whom Flick has launched a very special funding program. This personal situation expresses a luxury that the Macedonian coach Blagoja Milevski, who is trying to rebuild, would like to have, and which Hansi Flick supposedly knows how to enjoy. “We are happy that we have so much quality in this position,” commented the national coach in an expected but credible way.
As the job of the national coach entails, Flick has to do more with this topic than choose the right one of his many candidates for the next game. He has to deal with the demands of players who are among the privileged sizes in their clubs. Reus and Müller belong to the category “particularly valuable” in Dortmund and Munich, Wirtz is not only considered the greatest promise since Kai Havertz in Leverkusen … The latter has to constantly apply to Chelsea FC, but his profitable capacities are beyond question . Incidentally, there has been no mention of Ilkay Gündogan, who is currently injured, so far.
In the past, the tens in their teams were men of fateful importance; they were called conductors and directors, but occasionally, when they were not sufficiently courted, divas. Such theater is probably not to be expected at the DFB for the time being, but Flick can feel challenged as a moderator.