Oliver Bierhoff rushed to a meeting with a backpack, Hansi Flick was waiting longingly for the national team.
At the team hotel just outside Frankfurt, the national soccer coach, who had arrived early, had worked intensively over the weekend for the start of the World Cup year with the rather relaxed warm-up against Israel on Saturday (8:45 p.m. / ZDF) in Sinsheim and the first real one Touchstone three days later in the classic against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.
“We’re happy that things are getting started again,” said Bierhoff on Monday in the renovated luxury hotel Kempinski Gravenbruch, where the 53-year-old had often stayed when he was playing for the national team. Then he disappeared for a meeting in the hotel area reserved for the DFB entourage. Flick meanwhile had to cancel an important leading player from his plans for the time being before the players arrived in the evening after Salzburg attacker Karim Adeyemi, who had a thigh injury: Joshua Kimmich will be a father again in the next few days and will therefore remain at home with his partner for the time being. Lina Meyer and the Bayern professional are expecting their third child together.
“Jo is an absolute family man. The birth of a child is a very special moment in life,” said Flick. Nevertheless, the national coach hopes that the midfielder will arrive later. “We hope that if everything goes well, he will be with us soon.” Flick would need Kimmich for the important touchstone against Holland, especially since Niklas Süle (torn muscle) and Leon Goretzka, who has not played again after a long break from competition due to knee problems, are already missing from the strong Bayern block.
Kimmich becomes a dad again and is missing
Incidentally, Kimmich had already missed the last two World Cup qualifying games in November. At that time, after a corona infection from club colleague Süle, he had to leave Wolfsburg as an unvaccinated contact person from the DFB team and go into quarantine. On Monday there was bad Corona news again. Defender Robin Koch from Leeds United was unable to travel to Frankfurt because of a positive quick test, the DFB said.
On Monday, it was exactly eight months until the soccer World Cup kicked off in Qatar on November 21st. At first glance, that’s a lot of time – but not for Flick. Only three courses with eight international matches remain for the DFB head coach to filter out the 23 players with whom he would like to become world champions.
The World Cup countdown begins now. Flick wants to convey this message to the 23 players without Kimmich, Adeyemi and Koch at every training session and at every team meeting. Since several established players such as Süle, Goretzka, Marco Reus, Robin Gosens or Jonas Hofmann are missing at the start in 2022, Flick has opened the World Cup door wide again.
Hope for Stach and returnees
In addition to the surprise newcomer Anton Stach (Mainz 05), the returnees Julian Weigl (Benfica Lisbon), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig) and Robin Koch (Leeds United) or a 2014 world champion like Julian Draxler (Paris Saint-Germain) show and recommend. “We’re using the almost ten days to get an idea of the players we know little about but who have the quality to be national players. If we don’t do it now, we don’t need to do it anymore. Then we have it no more time,” explained Flick.
As satisfied as he can be with the restart under his leadership – seven games, seven wins, 31:2 goals – he is very concerned with the current high failure rate in the DFB team. And that’s why Flick starts the World Cup year with some urgent appeals. In the only 28 days of the tournament in Qatar, he needs “players who are able to perform at their best every three or four days”. He is quite concerned: “When I see how many important players are injured again, it’s a very big goal that we get stability there.”
Flick makes World Cup candidates responsible
Flick demands: “Every single player has to try to work on himself! Not only in the technical and tactical area, but also physically. If we want to be successful in Qatar, then the absolute basic requirement is that all players are in top shape.”
The coaching staff will be watching closely in the coming months. Everyone has to “do a bit more to be in top shape,” Flick warned: “The responsibility lies with each individual player. We will check that.” Otherwise your personal World Cup ticket is gone: “If one or the other doesn’t go the way we want it to, we will clearly tell the players.”
The national coach has 23 Qatar places up for grabs. And Flick wants to further fuel the spirit of optimism that was sparked in the second half of 2021. “The fans appreciate what’s happening on the pitch, what’s happening with the team. It’s a very positive development to see.” The winning streak at the end of the World Cup qualification should be continued in the tests against Israel and Holland – with or without Kimmich. “For me, the games are ultimately always the indicator of where we stand,” said Flick at the start of the week.