– Football is a simple game. 22 men chase the ball for 90 minutes, and in the end Germany wins.
The former striker of the England national team, now a TV personality by Gary Lineker the legendary statement is further from the truth today than ever.
– German football is facing a difficult time, admits Urheilu Daniel Guentherwho has worked as a sports reporter for the German Broadcasting Corporation for more than 30 years.
– In the Bundesliga, the stadiums are full and the atmosphere is good, but the national teams have caused massive disappointments. Regarding that, the mood in Germany is very bad.
In the men’s World Cup played at the end of 2022, Germany remained in the group stage, just like in 2018. It lost to Japan, drew with Spain and beat Costa Rica.
– For the second time in a row, Germany made a complete fool of itself, Sportschau wrote.
Read also: This situation sealed the disaster for Germany – the animation shows what the naked eye did not see in the World Cup horror goal
A new, historic disaster saw the light of day at the ongoing Women’s World Cup. Two-time world champion and eight-time European champion Germany missed the first group for the first time.
In ‘s studio, experts as well as those who have played in the Bundesliga Milla Punsar were downright shocked.
– Germany’s defensive line is completely messed up, all the basic principles of the game are missing. Please note that the players are at foreign venues and communication is completely lost, expert Mari Savolainen updated.
Read more: Sensation at the soccer World Cup – two-time world champion Germany missed the starting group for the first time: “Shocking rumbling”
Günther was not surprised by Germany’s historically weak World Cup tournament for women.
– The failure was obvious when the training matches went poorly against teams that were presumably much worse than Germany. And the same continued in the tournament.
“Welcome to mediocrity”
Joachim Löwin The 15-year head coaching period in the men’s national team ended with the summer 2021 European Championships, where Germany lost the quarterfinals to England.
He was replaced by someone who was successful at Bayern Munich and previously worked as Löw’s assistant coach in the national team Hans-Dieter “Hansi” Flick.
Now the German men’s national team is doing almost historically badly. In June, Germany played practice matches against Colombia, Poland and Ukraine and did not win once. The German men have won five of their last 17 matches.
Only With Erich Ribbeck has a weaker overall statistic as the head coach of the national team than Flick has now. Ribbeck’s years 1998–2000 are considered the darkest period in German football history.
Flick has received criticism for his unusual game experiments and for the uncertainty emanating from the team. Even the players have openly criticized Flick’s solutions.
– What has always set German football apart, be it men’s or women’s, is that they have been able to overcome difficult situations. If the athletic quality is not enough, it must be compensated with mentality – and it is mentality that is missing from the women’s national team as much as from the men’s national team, Günther criticizes.
During the summer, Flick begged the media to tone down their criticism of the players.
Sports director of the German national team Rudi Völler continued Flick’s defense, emphasizing that the summer national team window was just trying out players whose level is unlikely to be sufficient in the future. For example, the Finnish-German topper, who played his first A national matches, came under criticism Malick Thiaw.
The moods of football fans are at rock bottom only a year before the EC home games. The German media have managed to remind us that luckily the home team automatically gets a place in the games.
– Welcome to mediocrity, summed up Der Spiegel.
– Please help! Flick is ruining our European Championships, the tabloid Bild raged.
In the Fifa rankings, the German men’s national team has already reached 15th place. Having coached in the Bundesliga for decades Felix Magath70, uploaded his candid assessment.
– Since 2014, a downward spiral has developed. All criticism has been ignored. I criticized the junior work before, in 2011. When I hear twelve years later that there are no forwards and no central defenders, I think: “What a wonder!”.
In Günther’s opinion, Flick’s request to the media is just another indication of how difficult the situation is now for the national team and the German football association DFB.
– Flick made a statement that players should not be criticized. But that is our job, we analyze and criticize objectively. And right now it’s simple: the performances are not good, the results are not good. Journalists cannot create great euphoria just because of the European Championship. The national teams have to do it with their performances.
“Not bad luck, but incompetence”
In Germany, the desire of the citizens has become clear: Flick be fired and become a savior Jurgen Klopp.
It is also known that the vice president of the DFB Hans-Joachim Watzken the dream is to get Klopp in the national team. Watzke is also the CEO of Borussia Dortmund, under whom Klopp coached from 2008–15 before moving to Liverpool.
Criticism towards Flick does not diminish that he is considered withdrawn and a bad performer.
When asked what he learned from the World Cup disaster in Qatar, the German started talking about unity, team spirit and passion. Again, these same things that have been talked about for a hundred years, stated Der Spiegel.
Flick refused to comment on game-related issues.
It has been pointed out in the German media that one could try to explain the disaster in Qatar with some “easy” excuse. For example, it has been claimed in the public that the national team’s rebellion in the Fifa captain’s armband scandal disturbed concentration.
Read more: The German national team took a stand at the World Cup – mouths were covered with hands in the team photo, Manuel Neuer’s captain’s armband was checked
However, the reasons are much deeper and longer.
In Germany, it has been admitted that Spain and England are already far ahead in terms of player production. Corrective measures have been taken, but the fruit will be picked later, if picked at all.
Although the German Midfield is, among other things Ilkay Gündogan’s, Toni Kroos and By Joshua Kimmich management was still world class, the quality in attack and defense has not been enough.
– It’s not bad luck, it’s incompetence. Opponents don’t have to do much to score goals, Kimmich said.
Where the German men have lacked a proper center forward, the German women have the number one star Alexandra Popp. That was part of the problem in the Australian and New Zealand games.
The Germans were constantly looking for Poppi’s head with crosses, too quickly, but the pass combinations and the previously trademark press were conspicuous by their absence.
And again in Germany, discussions about the level of junior football work began. Conkar journalist Günther signs the problems.
– The head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg took the best players currently in Germany to Australia. So the fault is somewhere else, namely in player training. In training centers, attention is paid to technique and speed, but not to character. Its construction has been omitted. That will now be the DFB’s biggest task.
In 2024, new guidelines will be introduced in children’s football in Germany. The goal is smaller teams and shorter playing times. In addition, in training, competition is given up in order to minimize performance pressure.
– That’s completely the wrong way! It takes determination to win a football match and that can only be learned through competition. How are young players supposed to handle pressure if they don’t learn about it in training? I cannot understand this decision, Günther rages.
Of course, it should be noted that the instructions only apply to 11-year-olds and younger.
In Finland, the Football Association From the Everything Plays program similar guidelines have been found for a long time, to which Germany is now heading. In children’s matches, a referee is not used, but a game director. The number of players in the teams must be limited in such a way that the Half Game Guarantee rule is fulfilled.
In Finland, in children’s football, league points are not calculated and league tables are not made, but this rule is aimed at 9-year-olds and younger.
The goal of the Everyone Plays program for 11-year-olds and younger is that everyone has the right to versatile and safe hobbies under the guidance of an adult.
DFB scandals
The German football association DFB has also been in the grip of scandals. In the summer, it admitted that it had miscalculated the men’s international matches played in 2018–2020. There were 42 of them and not 40. Uefa is currently investigating the matter for technical tax reasons.
In 2015, the police and Fifa began to investigate the German football legend Franz Beckenbauer and the DFB in relation to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The background was Der Spiegel’s disclosure story. According to it, the DFB had a secret fund from which millions of euros were paid to buy votes so that Germany could win the games.
The DFB has denied the claims. In the end, the investigation by both Fifa and the Swiss authorities ended without charges, as the possible crimes were time-barred.
In 2020, more than 200 police officers and tax authorities searched the homes of the top brass of the German Football Association in connection with serious tax evasion as part of the advertising revenue received from home matches. The DFB also denied these claims and announced that it had paid the necessary taxes during 2019.
In the spring of 2021 From Fritz Keller became the third consecutive president of the DFB, who resigned amid scandal. Keller came under fire after comparing the DFB vice-president Rainer Koch to the infamous leader of Nazi Germany’s People’s Court to Roland Freisler.
Reinhard Grindel resigned in 2019 due to corruption allegations. Wolfgang Niersbach resigned in 2015 in connection with the aforementioned bribery scandals at the World Cup home games.
When Keller resigned, he stated that he was doing so because the union needed a thorough reboot. Keller lamented that he did not manage to professionalize and modernize the DFB, but constantly ran into power struggles.
– The DFB must regain its credibility and trust in its integrity and performance, Keller said.
“The underdog must fight”
Going back to making national teams, Sueddeutsche Zeitung saw in the women’s World Cup farce even wider similarities with the country’s situation.
– Qualifying in the group stage is a symptom of a country that believes it is much more competitive than it probably is.
However, according to Athletic, the men’s and women’s national teams have only one thing in common – bad coaching.
– DFB bosses are always happy not to rock the boat. When evaluating the work of the head coach of the national team, it would be advisable to be more ruthless, writes Athletic.
Günther formulates that the coach is always part of the problem when the tournament is canceled.
A couple of days after the World Cup, Voss-Tecklenburg announced that it will continue until 2025 according to its contract. At least Flick will get his chance in the fall, when Germany continues its preparations for the European Championship against Japan, France and the USA.
– Next year’s EC home tournament brings both motivation and responsibility. The German teams are now underdogs, and the underdog has to fight, Günther reminds.
Sources: The Athletic, Bild, Reuters, Der Spiegel, Sportschau, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Sports Illustrated