analysis
After the win against Luxembourg, there are traditional discussions about Joshua Kimmich’s role in the German national football team, as well as his demand for more rigor.
David Raum scored his first goal in an international match. Joshua Kimmich scored two goals in an international match for the first time, and Serge Gnabry also had a first after a quick search in the statistics. He scored for the first time against Luxembourg.
Well, it was Luxembourg. When Serge Gnabry scored three goals in his first of 54 international matches, it was said: Well, it was San Marino.
It’s still Luxembourg
Well, the days when Luxembourg and San Marino were seen at a (very weak) level are over. Luxembourg has blossomed and has achieved some respectable results in recent years, but it is still Luxembourg, a country with fewer than 700,000 inhabitants and ranked 96th in the FIFA world rankings.
Goretzka’s motto is: “Everything in relation”
Winning 4-0 in a home game against Luxembourg, who played a good 70 minutes when they were outnumbered, is more appropriate for the German national team than a signal that only Argentina, France and Spain can be stopped on the way to winning the World Cup.
Leon Goretzka also saw it that way, saying a snippet into the microphone at the sports show that served as the Friday evening’s motto: “Everything in relation.”
Nagelsmann with the Approach very satisfied
National coach Julian Nagelsmann had previously issued a different motto and repeated it after the game in Sinsheim: “The quality of the opponent must not change the approach.” He was very pleased that the team stuck to this motto.
“The desire to counter-press and defend are the baseline,” said the national coach. The impression of the 2-0 loss in Slovakia was still there, which had caused enormous irritation, including for the captain, due to a lack of enthusiasm at the start of the World Cup qualification.
Together on the same path, emphasis on “together”
“It is very important that we within the team understand that we are on the same path together,” said Kimmich after the game against Luxembourg, which brought Germany from third to first place in the table. The emphasis was on “together.”
So it went on to the discussion that comes up again and again, even if it has often seemed to have ended, most recently in the summer when Nagelsmann said that Kimmich would play in central midfield. Now he nominally played right-back again, but moved into midfield and the center when he had the ball.
Traditional discussion about Kimmich’s role
Since the Germans were mostly on the ball, the question was whether it would be a good solution if eleven Frenchmen instead of ten Luxembourgers recognized the free space on the left attacking side. But it was about the fundamentals, and when asked where he preferred to play, Kimmich said: “I don’t care at all.”
In an interview with Sportschau, Nagelsmann said that it didn’t matter to him, but that he wanted to decide on a case-by-case basis. Where does it stand that he has to make a decision, he asked, and it was clear that in the days before the game he had heard and read critical tones and that he had been fickle in the past few months when it came to the direction and selection of personnel.
Joshua Kimmich made it clear that a certain level of rigor would now also be important to him. There are still nine months until the World Cup, but probably only seven games left. “That’s not much.” The captain spoke of how it was “important” to “form a framework” and that it was also “important to have the same person next to you more often”.
Basically, he chose the position of right-back for himself, because the fact that after years of searching another permanent solution is suddenly found is as likely as Luxembourg qualifying for the World Cup.
Plea for Munich Club colleagues
Kimmich’s demands were also a kind of plea for his club colleagues Leon Goretzka and Aleksandar Pavlović, who occupied the central midfield in Sinsheim in front of the back four, in which Jonathan Tah, another Munich player, can be more likely than Pavlović to be part of the framework. Structural engineer Julian Nagelsmann’s plans will be easier to understand on Monday. Germany will then face Northern Ireland, 72nd in the world rankings, who beat 42nd Slovakia 2-0 on Friday at Belfast’s Windsor Park.
Well, it’s Germany – and it’s before the World Cup
“We definitely have to step up our game,” said Nagelsmann. “In the end we have to win the game, that’s above all else.” The discussions about plans and personnel arise automatically. Well, it’s Germany – and it’s before the World Cup.