It is said that there are no longer small opponents in world football. The German team has been providing evidence to the contrary for four years. Out in the preliminary round in 2018, out in the round of 16 at the 2020 European Championship, out in the preliminary round in Qatar 2022. What is remembered from Thursday evening is above all the gap between the bursting self-confidence of the experts before the game and what is actually happening on the field . Germany still appears as a great soccer nation – but only when talking about the game. In the ARD preliminary reports, Almuth Schult, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Sami Khedira didn’t even consider that the venture could fail, criticizing Flick’s line-up because he didn’t want to play for the 8-0 lead that was sure to lead to progress. The fact that eight goals wouldn’t be enough with this defensive performance and that Germany didn’t have it in their own hands to survive the preliminary round anyway – as became true during the evening – was not even discussed.
Germany: a marginal soccer nation – Media
