This 0: 2 must and will have been a wake -up call for everyone. The home European Championship last year blinded many-contrary to the general perception, the tournament was not strong from the DFB perspective and also not a new “summer fairy tale”, but at most okay. Now and after the last results you can only call the team and fans: welcome back in reality.
And the reality is: Germany is currently not good enough for the top of the world. On the contrary, we are miles away from the top of the world. We have an eleven that is good – but no longer. The days when we were among the top favorites at big tournaments with a great self-image are over. You have to be so honest, and that shouldn’t hurt – because it is the sad truth.
Even more: In the form of Thursday, the DFB team will also have problems against Northern Ireland on Sunday. And we really want to drive over to the 2026 World Cup and become world champions? Nobody needs that to tell me at the moment. If there is a really strong opponent, Germany is mercilessly picked apart in this constitution.
Incidentally, did you also notice how not a single German player found against Slovakia for his traditional form? It was almost visible how they lacked the joy of playing – and I have to say: Maybe this microragement of running paths and pass routes, which is now not unusual in modern football, is not helpful, but rather paralyzing. The players are gradually deprived of their greatest strengths, their creativity and their independent thinking by Nagelsmann and his coaching staff; And then no longer find a solution if an opponent does not behave as described in theory. And we already have problems with a team like Slovakia. Why was a Florian Wirtz hardly seen? German players have to be left again.
It was different in my active time: When Ottmar Hitzfeld told us at FC Bayern during a game: “I am immediately brought in Alex Zickler”, then he didn’t need to give us millimeter -accurate instructions because we already knew that we had to change our game a bit. Not everything has to be complicated and scene light.