a « horror film », « fear of falling into a hole »… The Germans in great distress

At the head of the selection for a little over a year, Hansi Flick is faced with a huge challenge to take up in the space of 18 months: to remake Germany a selection of a major tournament for its Euro at home.

« We have to be honest with ourselves. For four years, everything has not been going well for us“, underlined the striker of the Mannschaft, Kai Havertz, evoking a”horror movieto talk about Germany’s elimination from the 2022 World Cup, despite their victory against Costa Rica (4-2).

Players in fear

The observation is clear: since their victory on penalties against Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro-2016, the Germans have played eleven matches in major tournaments and have only won three, against Sweden (World Cup -2018), Portugal (Euro-2021) and Costa Rica (World-2022).

The absence of official matches for Germany, qualified as host country, between now and the European Championship will not facilitate the task of relaunching a machine which is no longer feared on the international scene since the semi-final. of Euro-2016 lost against France (2-0).

« I arrived in 2016, Germany were still in the semi-finals. It is not easy for me to bear, because I am personally associated with this failure. I’m a little afraid of falling into a hole“, commented with frankness Joshua Kimmich, who lived the “hardest day of (his) career » Thursday.

« Our flaws are still and always pointed out, we must not beat around the bush“, underlined Thomas Müller in the mixed zone Thursday evening. And the German defense remains the main point of concern.

Musiala only thinning

On the right-back position, Flick tried four solutions in three matches – Niklas Süle against Japan, Thilo Kehrer against Spain, Kimmich then Lukas Klostermann against Costa Rica – all as unconvincing as each other. And the central defense does not provide more guarantees.

Jamal Musiala’s controls and leg crossings were one of the few doses of freshness and enthusiasm for the Mannschaft, and the 19-year-old playmaker certainly represents the future of the selection. Just like center-forward Youssoufa Moukoko, who at 18 years and three days became the youngest German in the World Cup, came into play against Japan.

To repeat the « Sommermarchenof 2006, the summer tale that saw Germany climb to the semi-finals of its World Cup at home, the starting point for a series of six consecutive semi-finals in major competition, the German selection will also have to create excitement around her.

Flick keeps the trust of the federation

Will Flick still be in charge of this selection? Assure him that he wants to continue the adventure, but the brilliance of his star after his miraculous stint at Bayern (including a hat-trick of the Champions League, Bundesliga, German Cup in 2020) has lost its shine.

On Friday, the president of the German Federation Bernd Neuendorf returned to a sporting analysis of the fiasco and did not give a blank check to his coach. Some are calling for his resignation. « For me, it is excluded that we continue with the same coach. We have only 18 months left after this debacle until the Euro at home. It was miserable“, estimated Dietmar Hamann, consultant on the German television Sky.

For three decades, only Joachim Löw had weathered such a storm, while Berti Vogts (1998), Erich Ribbeck (2000) and Rudi Völler (2004) had resigned.