DFB eleven
Völler is only available for the game against France: “Nobody can have their pants full”
How do we want to play against France? Interim team boss Rudi Völler (r.) and interim assistant coach Hannes Wolf discuss
© Federico Gambarini / DPA
Hansi Flick is history. Rudi Völler wants to improve the present with some immediate measures against France’s top team. He will then take care of the future with the DFB.
“I would love to promise a great result, but that’s not possible,” said Völler. But he could promise Hansi Flick for the first game that “the attitude will be right. The players are on fire.” Völler had already made an announcement to the team, which was still led by Ilkay Gündogan as captain, after the “embarrassing” 1:4 against Japan, when he had not yet spoken as interim team boss. “Nobody can have their pants full.” Meanwhile, Gündogan answered with one word whether Germany was an outsider against France: “Yes!” Nevertheless, it is “time to achieve a decent result.”
Rudi Völler has to stop the total crash
In his comeback to the DFB coaching bench 19 years after his resignation, Völler wants to stop the national team’s decline and, ideally, bring about a change in the mood in the country. And for this, the former fan favorite places particular responsibility on the players who were no longer able (or unwilling?) to deliver under Flick. “We have to try to regain credit,” warned Völler. He believes that a team with many professionals who have proven themselves in Champions League games such as Gündogan, Marc-André ter Stegen, Antonio Rüdiger or Joshua Kimmich can and must do more than in the five international games without a win in the apocalyptic atmosphere under Flick.
“The players can do it too, they all come from top clubs and show their performance there – and I expect that on Tuesday too,” said Völler. The DFB entourage traveled by bus from Wolfsburg to Dortmund on Monday. There, supported by U20 selection coach Hannes Wolf and ex-national player Sandro, Völler had to prepare the unsettled, but perhaps now freed of doubts and ballast, team for the French in just one training session. Local hero Niklas Süle, who left the team at least temporarily due to the imminent birth of his second child, could drop out.
In addition, some players who Völler did not name are injured. “One, two, three changes,” he announced, and he wouldn’t change everything. He spoke of the “impulses” that he wanted to provide with his helpers. “We have a game against the best team in Europe at the moment. That will of course be difficult,” said Völler. But he added a sentence in the self-image of the 1990 world champion: “We are still Germany.”
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Flick’s successor should be found quickly
Völler wants to present a successor solution for Flick “relatively quickly” with the other DFB decision-makers around President Bernd Neuendorf: “That is the main task.” Names from Jürgen Klopp to Julian Nagelsmann are traded, no matter how true and, above all, how realistic they are. The group of candidates is not large shortly after the start of the season. Völler could give the association valuable time and take some of the pressure off with a bright spot in results and performance against France. The DFB team is going on a trip to the USA in October.
What immediate measures will the former world-class striker take? First and foremost, Völler will try to give the team security and stability. In short: no further experiments. Back to the 4-2-3-1 system that has been tried and tested for years, possibly with Joshua Kimmich (80 international games) and Ilkay Gündogan (68 appearances) as experienced double sixes in midfield and DFB veteran Thomas Müller (122) in attack. After conceding 13 goals in the last five international matches, Völler named one main problem that annoys him: “The most important thing is that our defensive behavior has improved extremely.”
It is now the players’ turn, Flick is no longer an alibi. Gündogan spoke of “a mix of sadness, frustration, disappointment” in the team: “As a player, I have the feeling that I have let Hansi down,” said the 32-year-old. But the look is forward. With a view to the big challenge against the Équipe Tricolore, Kimmich denied fear (“Zero!”) and instead gave the route: “It’s not about us playing nicely and getting into the game via passing relays. It’s important now that we Bringing other attributes onto the pitch, passion and so on. That’s what it’s all about now.” Gündogan added: “First of all, we want to correct our individual mistakes.”
The French, with their well-established team and numerous attacking skills such as Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembélé, Randal Kolo Mouani, Marcus Thuram or Bayern’s Kingsley Coman, are certainly not suitable as opponents. National coach Didier Deschamps’ team started their European Championship qualifying group with an impeccable five wins and 11-0 goals, including a 4-0 win against the Netherlands.
The last defeat and the last goals conceded came in the 3-3 in Qatar’s gripping World Cup final against Argentina and Lionel Messi with the defeat only on penalties. Even a Völler comeback won’t be enough. “I wouldn’t have imagined that it would be so difficult in the last few weeks and months,” groaned the temporary coach.