The victory over Israel gives the German fans new hope for a successful World Cup. But when looking into the future, the national coach has a few worry lines.
Robin Gosens, Robin Koch, Niklas Süle, Jonas Hofmann – Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich – Marco Reus, Florian Wirtz, Serge Gnabry – Karim Adeyemi
A goalkeeper is still missing, then this powerful team would look complete. Too bad none of them are currently available. All of the players named had to pull out of the international matches against Israel and the Netherlands for a variety of reasons. Injuries, corona infections, training deficits or – in the case of Joshua Kimmich – the birth of his own child prevented participation. It would have been important in view of the World Cup in eight months.
Florian Wirtz will be injured until shortly before the World Cup due to his cruciate ligament rupture. (Source: Sven Simon/imago images)
National coach Hansi Flick doesn’t have much time left to convey his ideas and plans to the team. The fact that he has to do without support from the team makes this task more difficult. As part of the nomination, Flick said in a media round: “It’s important to me to have players who perform at their best every three to four days. And when I see how many are injured again and again, then our goal must be a certain “Getting stability in. Every single player has to try to work on himself. Not just technically and tactically, but also physically. If we want to be successful in Qatar, it’s absolutely essential that everyone is in top form.”
Flick is referring to a sentence that he has been repeating since he started his job: You are always a national player. The national coach not only expects the right attitude during the international break, he also wants the maximum during the weeks with the clubs. Flick added: “Responsibility lies with each individual player and we will check that.”
Hansi Flick (right) and his assistant Danny Röhl have to be prepared for anything. (Source: student/imago images)
For his intense and fast-paced game, Flick needs alert players and fit legs. The problem with all these projects: the schedule.
Because in the World Cup year, the summer break is short and the first half of the season is exhausting. For the Bundesliga players in the national team it looks like this:
- There are four Nations League games in the first two weeks of June. From June 4th to 14th, the German team will face Italy twice, England once and Hungary once.
- The DFB Cup begins just six weeks later. At the end of July, the first round will start for many. Accordingly, the pre-season begins a few weeks earlier. As a result, there is not much time for vacation and regeneration after the Nations League. After the DFB-Pokal the Bundesliga starts.
- With the exception of the international break from September 21st to 27th, there will only be English weeks for players who are internationally represented with their teams from September. All six match days in European competitions take place between early September and early November. The Bundesliga wants to have 15 game days behind it by mid-November.
- There are eight days between the last Bundesliga game and the opening of the World Cup.
A tough program. It looks something like this for the national players who play in England or Italy. Flick’s problem: He has no influence on his players getting enough breaks in these English weeks. He can only hope for the right load control in the clubs. The national coach needs the help of proactive players who know their limits and communicate them openly in their clubs, while at the same time being fit enough in November and December to go to those limits for him every few days.
This powerlessness will accompany the 57-year-old in the coming months. In addition, there is the constant hope that no key players will be injured due to the high pressure and fail completely. That would be the worst case.