On site
Before game against Costa Rica
Where to go with the man who can do everything but is not at home anywhere on the pitch?
Belongs to the starting eleven of the German national team for years: Thomas Müller
© Ina Fassbender / DPA
Thomas Müller is in danger of losing his place in the starting XI to Niclas Füllkrug – the man of the hour in the German national team.
When Angela Merkel was still Chancellor, it was said that the color of her blazer reveals more about her state of mind than the corners of her mouth, which are usually bent into a U. The ties worn by former US Federal Reserve Banker Ben Bernanke were said to have similar powers of prophecy; depending on the pattern, he would raise or lower the key interest rate. And they have also created an oracle for the German Football Association (DFB): They are the press conferences in the Al Shamal training camp, located in northern Qatar, 100 kilometers from Doha through the desert.
Here, in a converted sports hall, the national players provide information about what moves them – and also what allegedly doesn’t move them at all (“Pressure? No problem, we’re all used to it”). However, the real meaning of the DFB consultation hour does not lie in the words of the players, but in the occupation of the podium. The personnel selection is understood by observers as a pointer to the next game. If two players are sitting up on the stage, it means: one of them makes it into the starting line-up. If only one comes, it says: will be there from the beginning.
However, since the defeat in the preliminary round of the World Cup against Japan, the DFB has been playing a game of its own, and that means deception and tricks. Before the game against Spain, the association sent Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt to the press. The obvious conclusion: Havertz plays, Brandt doesn’t. Unfortunately it was wrong. Neither one nor the other was allowed to participate in the 1-1 draw with Spain.
DFB-PK: Thomas Müller and Niclas Füllkrug on the podium
The DFB gave up the biggest mystery of this World Cup so far on Tuesday: it put Thomas Müller and Niclas Füllkrug in front of the microphone. Two players for the exact same position, the nine, the striker. One had to ask oneself with concern: Is the oracle going completely crazy now? Can’t stand desert heat? What should the message be?
Müller and Füllkrug were unable to say that themselves. Everything is conceivable, said Müller: “The abundance has the nine welded onto the jersey, but that doesn’t have to mean anything.” You could also play together, Füllkrug up front in the center of the attack and he, Müller, behind him in attacking midfield.
Vollkrug was briefer. When asked who was the nine in the team, he said: “Stupid question.”
The German national team must win against Costa Rica on Thursday evening (8 p.m., ARD) so that the World Cup tournament is not over for them after the group stage. For national coach Flick, the question is who should he trust in attack? Füllkrug, who scored the equalizer against Spain and was then carried on his hands as a savior? Or the experienced Müller, 33 years old, member of the national team since 2010, world champion 2014, two-time Champions League winner, a sinewy man, hardened in a thousand battles?
Not good statistics for Thomas Müller
Müller knows that the statistics at this World Cup speak against him so far. “Two games and zero shots on goal, I can’t be satisfied with that as an attacking player,” he said, before advertising himself. From the outside, it may not be perceived as important how important running work is, “you run down ten times and don’t get the ball ten times and hope that it will come the eleventh time.” Each of these advances, however, shakes up the opponent’s defense network, which opens up spaces, “spaces that others can then use.”
Someone like Füllkrug, for example, 29 years old, who was with Werder Bremen in the second division last season. Füllkrug’s advantage is that he has clearly identifiable qualities: He is the executor in the striker, as it is called in football lingo. And Thomas Muller? Is everywhere and nowhere on the move, can play in four positions on offense, is often pushed to where there is a shortage. And if there is no shortage, as in Qatar these days, then the question arises: where to put Müller?
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Hansi Flick can draw on more attacking midfielders than any national coach before him. Musiala, Havertz, Gnabry, Sané, Brandt, Götze (and also Gündogan, wrongly declared by Flick as a six against Japan) – two national teams could easily be equipped.
Midfield will probably be the most important part of the team in the German game against Costa Rica. Expect a one-sided game with Costa Rica retreating into their own half and waiting for a counterattack. The Germans will have to run a lot to tear gaps in the defensive chains. Maybe another job for the hard-working Thomas Müller? And Füllkrug comes in later, like against Spain? The Oracle of Al Shamal doesn’t seem to know himself. It rarely spoke as confusedly as on Wednesday.