Joshua Kimmich presented himself and explained the defeat against Japan in detail. His statement per Hansi Flick seemed hesitant.
At the end of chief explainer Joshua Kimmich’s seven-minute speech, one of his many words was on the gold scales. “At the end of the day we have to trust the coach that he makes the right decisions, that he knows what is right and good for the team.” Must.
Was Hansi Flick’s former most important ally just resigning from the national coach? Just like the boss of his former favorite student? For Kimmich it was one of the most difficult weeks of his football career: first Flick demoted him from captain to co-leader, then moved him from the center to the back right and finally the bitter 1:4 (1:2) embarrassment against Japan.
Afterwards he seemed touched and at times looked perplexed on his newly bearded face.
Kimmich’s role in the DFB team is always an issue
Was he surprised at his new, old role? “Um, phew, that’s how it goes,” said Kimmich hesitantly and added: “At the beginning, Hansi had already decided that I would actually play on the six…” Flick already moved away from this during the all-or-nothing game World Cup in Qatar against Costa Rica (4:2) when he called up the Bayern professional as a right-back, as he did at the beginning of his DFB career under Joachim Löw.
At halftime he corrected his decision and pushed Kimmich back into midfield. Flick emphasized at the restart after the World Cup disaster that the 28-year-old would stay there in the future – as boss. Flick even made Kimmich captain and compared his “mentality monster” to basketball icon Michael Jordan in June. Now suddenly the turnaround, the new captain is Ilkay Gündogan – and Kimmich is only the subordinate part of a “leadership duo”.
Kimmich avoids the question of Flick’s future
Flick explained that he had “talked to Jo for a long time” and discussed the topic of changing positions with him. “He said he’s doing it in the interests of the team, he’s an absolute team player.” Against Japan he played neither a good game nor a bad one either. “He had a difficult time against the best Japanese,” said RTL expert Lothar Matthäus, but he thinks it makes sense to withdraw Kimmich with a view to the home European Championships in 2024, “that’s a good idea.”
Kimmich – team player or not – might see things differently. So it’s no wonder that he said “must” – and not: “Yes, we and I trust Hansi Flick.”
Is Flick still the right man as national coach? Kimmich meaningfully avoided the question on the night in Wolfsburg. “First and foremost, we have to start with ourselves,” he said, “not point the finger at the coach.”