Oliver Bierhoff is confident that the German national soccer team under Julian Nagelsmann will manage the turnaround and get on track for the 2024 European Championship at home.
For Nagelsmann, as for every national coach, it is “generally difficult to get the team on a certain line in a few days. But he is of course one of the top coaches. He has absolute competence and, from what I have already heard, clear ideas, which he conveys well,” said the long-time manager of the national team in an exclusive interview with RTL/ntv and sport.de.
Nagelsmann has already proven his class and “worked successfully in the Bundesliga,” said Bierhoff. “I somehow have a good feeling that the team is now gaining momentum towards the European Championships and of course I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can manage a mental change and get back into this positive direction.”
The change of coach from Hansi Flick to Nagelsmann “perhaps loosens certain barricades,” said Bierhoff. “It has nothing to do with the coach before. There is a new situation. Players can prove themselves anew, there is a new attitude. You have a bit of the feeling that the clock is being reset to zero, and that can actually happen be a mental advantage.”
In order to be successful again, the national team needs “a certain unity and coordination – to be well-coordinated, to believe in one thing. The conviction has to be there, the quality is there,” said the 1996 European champion.
National team: Hummels comeback a “good sign”
Bierhoff also sees defender Mats Hummels’ comeback as positive. “Of course he has a certain age, but he’s showing in the Bundesliga with Dortmund what a high level he can play at. And as long as that’s the case, age doesn’t matter. So I’m happy for him that he’s here . And that shows again with all the returnees: Everyone wants to play in the national team. That’s a good sign.”
Joachim Löw’s successor Hansi Flick no longer took Hummels into account after the 2021 European Championship. Nagelsmann now brought the veteran back. Bierhoff said he was sorry for Flick, who was fired after the 4-1 defeat against Japan. He showed at Bayern Munich that he was a “top coach”.
“I found the reporting very one-sided,” said Bierhoff, criticizing the media surrounding Flick’s dismissal as DFB coach. You have to accept criticism, “but then everything is blamed on one person, in this case Hansi. What I found very unfair in many cases was also not justified.” Given the “dynamics” created by the national team’s crisis, “one got the feeling that it would be difficult to absorb this mood that was currently developing.”
Bierhoff is currently in the USA with several football officials from Germany, including Fredi Bobic and Max Eberl, and also briefly stopped by the DFB team. The 55-year-old gave insight into his visit that he was “really happy to see everyone and of course it’s still familiar.” But he “kept it short” because he knew from experience that as a team “we like to have a guest for a short time, but they should only be there for a short time. And that’s how I handled it.”
Bierhoff held the job of DFB manager from 2004 to 2018, later becoming director and managing director. He resigned after the World Cup debacle in Qatar.