Coach Thomas Tuchel from Bayern Munich has clearly criticized the German national team’s upcoming ten-day trip to the USA due to the strain on the players.
“I don’t know if this makes sense to me, I don’t know if anyone can explain it to me so that I completely understand it”, he said on Friday (October 6th, 2023). His colleague Edin Terzic from Borussia Dortmund spoke diplomatically about one almost at the same time “Challenge”.
The national team with the new national coach Julian Nagelsmann will fly to the USA on Monday, they will play a game against the USA in Hartford on October 14th and another in Philadelphia against Mexico on October 18th. The return of the German national players is scheduled for October 19th (Thursday). Borussia Dortmund will play against Werder Bremen on October 20th.
Tuchel’s list makes the burden clear
To clarify his criticism, Tuchel mentioned the tight schedule of his German national players. With jet lag, they would only come back on Thursday, “sitting on the plane to Mainz on Friday, then sitting on the plane to Istanbul on Monday, coming back on Wednesday, then there’s a home game in between, then an away game in the cup, then an away game in Dortmund”.
This is such a program “End of resilience, no coach at this level will tell you anything different”said Tuchel in outrage. He doesn’t know who decided on the trip at the DFB, “but we are always only asked afterwards, they probably know our opinion and don’t want to hear it”. You will too “I can’t find a player who says: I’ll really reach my performance limit with this schedule.”
Terzic: The decision must be respected
Terzic preferred not to get upset. “We had our experience traveling to the USA in the summer and had our own jet lag plan. Our medical department and our athletic department will remain in close contact with our players.”he said and added: “It is the way it was decided. We have to respect that. We will try to make the best of these circumstances.”