National coach Hansi Flick called the national team together on Wednesday. However, the squad is not complete for the anniversary game against Ukraine in Bremen.
The large terrace on the campus of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt’s Niederrad district offers a magnificent view of the skyline. At the same time, it is designed so spaciously that 600 fans can follow the training of the German national team here on Thursday afternoon (08.06.2023) from the front seat.
That’s how many places the DFB has raffled off via its digital channels, which wants to demonstrate its closeness to the people again at its next international matches a year before the European Championships at home. Without a valid ticket, there is no entry to the otherwise hermetically sealed off area where the DFB selection comes together for three international matches.
First there is the benefit game against Ukraine in Bremen next Monday (12.06.2023/6 p.m.), which is also the 1000th international match in DFB history. This will be followed by friendlies against Poland in Warsaw (June 16) and against Colombia in Gelsenkirchen (June 20). National coach Hansi Flick speaks of “three strong opponents”.
The EM 2024 is not in the mind yet
The overarching mission: increase interest in the national team with good performances and arouse a certain anticipation for the tournament in your own country, which opens on June 14, 2024 in Munich and ends on July 14 in Berlin. It is also about the fundamental interest in an event that, for various reasons, is not yet really anchored in all those interested in sports as an awakening experience like the 2006 World Cup.
On the one hand, the global trouble spots are depressing many people, but professional football in particular is responsible for the loss of image due to its greed for more money and ever larger formats. In addition, the German A national team is at an inopportune time in a trough and has lost many supporters. After the three unsatisfactory tournaments with the 2018 World Cup, the 2021 European Championship and, above all, the 2022 World Cup, the national coach is in the obligation to deliver next summer.
There are need for improvement
“We’re no longer at the top with the national team. That means we have to work through everything step by step. We can’t guarantee that we’ll win all three games, but that we’ll give 100 percent and try to convince the fans to get to our site“Flick said in a video message about the squad nomination.
DFB sports director Rudi Völler, who was enthroned after the World Cup, expects everyone after the long season “put it up a notch”. The first appearances after the botched World Cup in Qatar in the spring against Peru (2-0) and Belgium (2-3) did not trigger a storm of enthusiasm.
Four players each from Munich, Dortmund and Leipzig
It remains to be seen to what extent four FC Bayern players around interim captain Joshua Kimmich are really able to do this after a one-week short vacation, as well as the four Borussia Dortmund players with Nico Schlotterbeck, Marius Wolf, Emre Can and Julian Brandt after the missed championship.
The RB Leipzig quartet, on the other hand, only just had to celebrate defending their title in the DFB Cup. National coach Hansi Flick has nominated a squad of 26, although not all of them are now expected on Wednesday (June 7th, 2023) in the Kempinski Gravenbruch just outside Frankfurt.
Not all actors travel immediately
Because with Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) and Robin Gosens (Inter Milan), two German national players will only face each other on Saturday (June 10th, 2023) in the Champions League final and will only join the squad after the Ukraine game. Thilo Kehrer (Fiorentina) is in the final of the Europa Conference League. National goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, who was on a trip to Japan with FC Barcelona, will also follow.
Flick is visibly trying to stoke motivation in his team, which will not be that easy in three friendlies after the end of a season that was extremely exhausting due to the World Cup. “Being part of the 1000th international match is something special for every player”, emphasized the 58-year-old. With the Bremen Weser Stadium, the venue is definitely special. More than 32,000 tickets have been sold so far, and the DFB firmly believes that all 35,975 seats at this historic encounter will be occupied.
The first international match in Bremen since February 2012
Where the Weser makes an arc, no international match has been played for more than a decade. The last time was on February 29, 2012. Back then with Tim Wiese between the posts, Dennis Aogo at left-back and Mesut Özil in the control room of a DFB team that lost 2-1 against France. Since then, Bremen has been banned from the German Football League (DFL) for a dispute with the German Football League (DFL) about participation in police costs.
Under President Wolfgang Niersbach, the association of the Hanseatic city withdrew the promised encounter in the European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar in autumn 2015. The current DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf used his political connections as a former SPD man to build bridges again in the social-democratic Hanseatic city. In the autumn of last year, Neuendorf was already sitting with Bremen’s controversial interior senator Ulrich Mäurer (SPD), and in the spring both sides made the reconciliation public.
Bernd Neuendorf managed the reconciliation
“For the DFB, Bremen belongs on the football map, regardless of different opinions with the Senate on individual political issues.”, explained Neuendorf. And Mäurer added: “By awarding the 1000th international match to Bremen, the DFB has corrected its previous attitude. That’s gratifying.”
Werder President Hubertus Hess-Grunewald involved was also very happy “that international matches can take place at the Osterdeich again”. After all, Werder Bremen as a club is not a bad representative when it comes to values such as social responsibility or sustainability.