Ein captain of the national team lifting a trophy – German football has been dreaming of this for a long time. On Saturday evening, this picture was actually visible in the Wolfsburg stadium, even if it’s hard to believe. However, there was an individual reason for this: Ilkay Gündogan, treble winner with Manchester City, was honored as “Footballer of the Year” before the game against Japan kicked off.
When the 90 minutes were played, a trophy seemed illusory in every respect for Hansi Flick and his team. Rather, it was a picture of horror for German football: the 1:4 on the scoreboard, the German team on the pitch deserted by all good spirits, the frozen faces of those responsible in the stands – Bernd Neuendorf, Hans-Joachim Watzke, Rudi Völler – and then, withdrawn under the roof of his bank and yet at the center of attention, Hansi Flick.
A short but loud whistle concert after the final whistle, a handshake between the national coach and his Japanese colleague, then Flick disappeared into the catacombs. On Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for DFB international matches and on ARD) the national team will play again, in Dortmund against France. But even at that moment on Saturday evening, anything seemed possible. “I think we’re doing well and I’m the right coach,” said Flick a little later on RTL. “We currently don’t have the resources to outplay such a compact defense.”
Only Leroy Sané scores for Germany
What can be said for sure is that Flick and his team have not recovered from the 1-2 defeat against Japan at the start of the World Cup on November 23rd to the present day, and the way it was against the same opponent on Saturday It’s simply inconceivable that this would even happen anymore.
Leroy Sané had equalized the first Japanese lead through Junya Ito in the eleventh minute (19th), but because Ayase Ueda (22nd) promptly made it 1-2 and in the final phase the substitutes Takuma Asano (90th) and Ao Tanaka (90th + 2) struck twice more, this September 9th will also be etched into German football memory as a black day, as the low point of the Flick era; it was the third defeat in a row, the sixth in twelve games.
And even though the team started the game full of enthusiasm, in the end the only verdict was: not competitive. Flick’s interventions in the team, which revolved around Gündogan and Joshua Kimmich, were a waste of time because everything that had given hope at the beginning quickly evaporated due to resistance. It was thanks to Marc-André ter Stegen in goal that the deficit didn’t get bigger earlier. “Hansi out,” was heard at the end. But it is a situation that another national coach would have to get under control first.
When the line-ups arrived a good hour before kick-off, it was clear in black and white what Flick had indicated the day before and tested again the day before: Kimmich found himself on the right in the back four. A transfer that Flick had categorically ruled out for a long time and that Kimmich certainly did not strive for: from the king to the peripheral figure – that would be too superficial, the position on the wing is too important in both directions.
Nevertheless, you have to deal with it first. Especially since Flick also gave the captain’s armband into other hands, Gündogan’s. It was supposed to be something like the national coach’s big castling with a view to the European Championship, with Gündogan as the man he wanted to rely on in two respects, as a leading figure, but also as the one who was supposed to pull the strings in a playful way. And so there was great excitement as to what both would do with their roles.
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