EM 2024: DFB team threatens group around Netherlands & Italy

EM lottery pots almost fixed

The complicated and mathematically demanding phase of European Championship qualification is over. 21 of 24 participants – including the already seeded host Germany – have been confirmed and can plan for the tournament in summer 2024 (June 14th to July 14th). Who can be considered as opponents in the preliminary round? Which hammer group threatens national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s crisis-ridden team? And what happens next with qualification after the draw on December 2nd in Hamburg? Meanwhile, Nagelsmann and DFB sports director Rudi Völler, among others, commented on the 0-2 loss against Austria on Tuesday evening.

What do possible EM groups look like for Germany?

European Championship semi-finalists Denmark, the Netherlands and defending champions Italy would probably be the most difficult group for Germany on paper. However, a season with Albania, Slovenia and a nominally weak playoff participant is also conceivable. While draw pot one includes the top favorites England, Portugal, runner-up France and Nations League winner Spain alongside the DFB team, pot two also includes Turkey and the ÖFB team, against whom there were recent test match defeats . Only three participants are still unclear in draw pot four, which will be played in the playoffs in March. Which constellations are possible there and how the system works.

There will be a small draw in Nyon this Thursday. A team will be drawn that moves up from path B to path A. Finland, Ukraine and Iceland are eligible. The other two nations remain in path B. The home advantage of the three finals will also be determined. The final round will be drawn in Hamburg on December 2nd (6 p.m.).

Austrian bankruptcy of the DFB team: Nagelsmann understands the “worries of the fans”

National coach Nagelsmann obviously had one thing that was particularly important as he said goodbye to the threateningly long international break. “I’m not frustrated and I’m not in the victim role,” he said several times after the bitter 2-0 defeat in Vienna on Tuesday evening. He was “sad” because the national team’s defeats against Austria and Turkey (2:3) three days earlier were particularly painful. “But not in the role of victim.”

Less than seven months before the home European Championship, the 36-year-old, who had previously only been employed until the end of the tournament, found it visibly difficult to spread optimism in any way. “I understand the concerns of the fans, I can absolutely understand that,” said Nagelsmann, whose DFB selection had revealed glaring weaknesses in practically all areas.

Nagelsmann assured that, outside of the games, his team was a “very closed community with an incredibly good atmosphere.” When it comes down to it, there’s little to be seen. Unlike the Austrians, who, according to their team boss Ralf Rangnick, play “like friends”, there is rarely a sense of togetherness in the German team. “I have the feeling that we are still too many lone fighters,” said Nagelsmann. “Everyone is busy with themselves, which is of course somewhat normal given the recent and middle history.” The national coach admitted that he doesn’t have a “perfect solution”. He decided against a major restructuring of the squad after Hansi Flick took over in September, but tried out a lot tactically, especially in the last two games – including with Kai Havertz (24) in an unusual position on the left side with a lot of defensive tasks. The next two of four European Championship test matches are scheduled for March.

The strengths of his players are “game control” and “offensive football,” said Nagelsmann. There was no sign of this against Austria. In addition to an “absurdly” high rate of ball losses, the game presentation was “too slow, too undynamic, very much off the mark.” His tactics didn’t work. Nagelsmann said the style of play would also be geared to the players available. There is “no euphoria around his team at the moment, that’s understandable,” he said, repeating the mantra that Flick and DFB sports director Völler had said before him: It’s all about winning, about “persistent” good performances. “Not by babbling.”

Völler announcement to DFB players: “We can’t put up with it”

Völler, however, took the team to task after the game. “It’s not superficially about the result, but the way it went, it’s not nice, we can’t put up with it, and it has to get better,” said the 1990 world champion on Tuesday evening. “I know it’s always a term, a word that’s overused, but we’re a little lacking in German virtues.”

National coach Nagelsmann will “draw his conclusions” from the defeat by March, “including who he will ultimately bet on”. The DFB selection must get “the five to ten percent of passion, dynamism, energy” into the game. “Otherwise it will be difficult,” said Völler. “It’s not about whether you play with a three-man or four-man chain, or whether Kai Havertz plays left-back, that’s not the point. The point is that five or ten percent, we were missing that in both games. We have to work on that,” said the sports director.

It’s a “general question, I don’t know whether it depends on the type of player,” added the 63-year-old. “We have to work on it. Unfortunately, we don’t have the next two international matches until March.”

National player Sané apologizes after being sent off: “It’s my responsibility”

Leroy Sané apologized for the violence after being sent off against Austria. “The game is on me today, it’s on me. I have to control myself, that can’t happen, I let the team down,” said the 27-year-old. He also apologized to his national team colleagues for his offense in the dressing room.

The FC Bayern Munich professional knocked down opponent Phillipp Mwene with a punch after a duel at the start of the second half and was shown a red card (49′). “It wasn’t anything personal against Philipp, it was my own performance, as I said, it shouldn’t happen to me,” said Sané, explaining the incident. “I’m motivated, I want us to go in the right direction,” he said. Because of the offense, Sané faces a ban of at least three games from the world association FIFA. This means that Munich national coach Nagelsmann would not be available again until the last European Championship test match at the beginning of June.

Sané had shown strong games for Bayern this season. However, like the entire DFB selection, he was disappointing against Turkey and in Austria. “In general, we don’t have to make ourselves small. We have great quality in the squad. That’s why it’s so difficult to understand from outside why it doesn’t work,” said Sané about the difficult situation of the DFB selection.

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