Sometimes it’s about the famous moment. In sports, it often separates winners and losers. You can call it driven by luck or misfortune, some also invoke chance as a trigger. Former footballers, who unfortunately make it to the microphone far too soon after the end of their careers, like to talk about momentum. And that, you don’t need Dietmar Hamann to understand that, is currently not on the side of the German national team.
Since leaving the 2018 World Cup in Russia, there has been a problem, at that time still under coach Jogi Löw, who then did a listless and pointless lap of honor, now also with his former assistant Hansi Flick, who after all won every trophy with FC Bayern you could collect. But what does that mean when you work for a breakdown association that trudges from one affair to the next, seems notoriously clammy and has never really recovered from the summer fairy tale rumors that the tournament in Germany 2006 had been bought.
The national team and the zeitgeist
Flick always wanted, but not much was possible. As is well known, the World Cup in Qatar was completely screwed up. Out in the preliminary round, and in one of the easiest groups. After that there was one scary appearance after the next, so that the coach is now under pressure to force a “good mood” for the European Championships at home next year. This is done in test matches against Japan (who basically sent Germany home with a run of 20 minutes at the World Cup) and France.
But before that, a documentary series filmed during the events in Qatar will be released on Amazon on Friday (September 8th). Actually, she was supposed to show the proud team spirit of the DFB-Adler, as a colorful mix of mainly young fighters proves on the pitch, fights against the zeitgeist (keyword: rainbow armband) and doesn’t let the mouth be banned. Everything turned out differently, so that the documentary – you can already see it in the first trailer, the bedraggled nagging between Kimmich and Süle is now going viral – is a kind of tragedy in four acts.
Now it has to be said that “All Or Nothing” is a pretty entertaining affair. Amazon started the format with football teams in the US, but now it includes numerous sports. For sporting reasons, the narrative arch doesn’t always succeed (after all, nobody can foresee where the season is headed), but what’s happening next to the pitch is important for the show anyway. Other parts of the program give insights into the lockers of FC Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal London and so on. Everyone should see how the gladiators are doing privately, what is important in training and how coaches motivate their teams.
You know that from the “Summer Fairytale” film by Sönke Wortmann. Schweinsteiger/Podolski in their underpants on the hotel bed with a bag of chips in their hands. Coach Jürgen Klinsmann whipping his team against Poland. Now, in addition to these light-flooded pictures of the anarchic football children’s birthday party, there are others that make almost everyone look stupid. Oliver Bierhoff looks grumpy, probably because he suspects that the elimination is not just for sporting reasons. And, as the trailer shows, you see Hans Flick trying in vain to fight the bad mood. Of course this will only be a part, the first few minutes of the show reveal other things as well. People who make an honest effort and are overtaken by fate.
It can only get better – right?
But what if you get the impression from this documentary that this group of footballers just isn’t hungry for titles when their coach appears to be psychologically knowledgeable and more sensitive towards his charges, but according to the location of the pictures in “All Or Nothing” perhaps does not find the right words to encourage or even turn things around? Then millions will see in the stream why it is not worth keeping your fingers crossed for the DFB team, then a draw in the test against Japan and a narrow defeat against France in the following classic match could mean a future failure in your own country smell at the EM 2024, even before the ball rolls. Because the pictures from Qatar are pressed even more into the collective soul with some delay.
It is said that 10,000 tickets are still available for the game against France. There has been more interest in the German national team before.
After all: Originally six episodes were planned, now there are only four episodes to see. You’ll want to encourage yourself in the last few meters, I bet. Like many words from the DFB executive committee, as well as the analysis of the national coach in recent months.
After “All Or Nothing” on Amazon, which was authorized by the DFB and for which they obviously fought to make it a reality as a project, you might prefer not to hear so much from this team. The association shouldn’t have taken the risk, the timing of the publication so shortly before two important international matches with reference character is unfortunate in a strange way, even downright stupid. The question that many will ask themselves is: Why do I have to do this to myself? And there it is again, the famous moment that can decide between victory and defeat.