What if the French team held the fate of Hansi Flick between its feet? The hypothesis is not completely crazy as the Blues travel to Dortmund on Tuesday for a friendly match against a Germany in its worst form. Nine months before Euro 2024 which it hosts (June 14 – July 14), the Mannschaft sank again on Saturday in Wolfsburg (1-4), against Japan. This fourth defeat in five games further weakens its coach.
Flick (58 years old) was appointed head of the selection in the summer of 2021, succeeding the long mandate of Joachim Löw (15 years old) crowned with the world title in 2014. Since his traumatic elimination in the first round of the World Cup in Qatar , last fall, Germany only won one match, against modest Peru (2-0). She bit the dust against Belgium (3-2), Poland (1-0), Colombia (2-0) and now Japan.
The boos and whistles of the supporters become more and more audible at the end of each German match, and in Wolfsburg, some of the supporters left even before the final whistle. A few “Hansi raus!” » (“Hansi out!”) even sounded after the fourth Japanese goal, scored in added time.
Matthäus Charges Flick
“We prepare the team in the right way against our opponents. We will continue to do so. We are convinced of what we are doing. This is why it also continues for me,” assured Flick at a press conference after the meeting.
But Lothar Matthäus, great voice of German football and captain of the 1990 world champion team, has difficulty seeing how the technician could remain in his post, nine months before the Euro (June 14-July 14, 2024). “Not many people were behind Hansi Flick anymore. Rudi Völler [le directeur sportif de la sélection] if. But can we still keep it now? I doubt it, ”he said at the microphone of the RTL broadcaster. At the same microphone, Völler admitted that this new defeat hurt. “We are all in shock. Losing 4-1 is a shame, and it was deserved. Such a defeat hurts. »
In the immediate future, the sporting director of the German selection is focusing on Tuesday’s match against the Blues. “Tuesday, we have another complicated match against France. We should do a little introspection and think about what happens next. We’ll see,” said Völler, to whom the question of Flick’s retention had just been asked.
A quality problem
Faced with a Didier Deschamps team in great shape, the mission promises to be very complicated. On Saturday, the Germans once again displayed their enormous defensive shortcomings in the first period against the Samurai Blue, who had precipitated the Qatari disaster by winning at the end of November in Doha (2-1). The first two Japanese goals came from the German left side, with Nico Schlotterbeck overtaken. Ter Stegen then repelled several Japanese attacks, but could do nothing on a counterattack at the end of the match, concluded by Takuma Asano. Ao Tanaka’s fourth goal only amplified the rout.
Under pressure after the failures of the friendly matches in March and June, Hansi Flick tried to innovate by repositioning Kimmich on the right side of the defense, with an offensive role during phases of ball possession. He also gave the captain’s armband to Gündogan. These tests were not transformed in the field.