After the game against Switzerland, there are once again more question marks than exclamation marks behind this assumption. In the penultimate game before the squad was nominated for the World Cup, Sané once again missed an opportunity to impose himself sustainably. Significantly: Substitute Lennart Karl had embarrassed the Swiss defense more after around 15 minutes than Sané had in over an hour.
So did the former Schalke player once again squander one of his few chances with the national coach shortly before the World Cup? “There are more,” said Nagelsmann when asked by t-online at the press conference after the game in Basel and made it clear: “I don’t always expect a player to score two goals and provide three, but it’s about the overall picture.” In his opinion, Sané showed his skills. “And that’s also the crucial thing, that we can already see that.”
At the same time, the national coach made it clear that he was not completely satisfied with Sané’s performance either. “I think he has to, he can, in one or two situations today, make it even more intense and do it even better,” emphasized Nagelsmann, who also tried to correctly classify his protégé’s situation. Sané generally gets a lot of playing time at his club Galatasaray, but has not played in some crucial games in the past few weeks. “You always have to take this rhythm into account,” says Nagelsmann.
The national coach is still being merciful to Sané for the time being – possibly with the hope that he will repay the trust in the next test against Ghana and nip any discussion about him with a view to the World Cup in the bud. Nagelsmann left no doubt that he would rely on him again against the Africans. “He has the next chance to do even better on Monday,” said the coach. In the best case scenario, the problem child who returns to Basel may no longer be a problem child again.
