Champions League winners Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) and Robin Gosens (Inter Milan) joined the German national soccer team late on Wednesday afternoon (June 14th, 2023).
This means that national coach Hansi Flick has completed his squad for the two outstanding international matches on Friday (8.45 p.m. / ARD) in Warsaw against Poland and on Tuesday (8.45 p.m., both games in the live ticker on sportschau.de) in Gelsenkirchen against Colombia.
Free days after the final
Gündogan will probably not be used in Poland yet. “My last stand from the conversation with Hansi was that I’m not playing against Poland yet, but then in Gelsenkirchen”, said the Man City captain according to the “Bild” newspaper after arriving at the Hotel Kempinski Gravenbruch in Frankfurt. Gündogan and Gosens were granted days off after the premier class final, which Gündogan had won with Manchester City against Gosen’s Inter Milan. The duo was also missing the sobering 3: 3 in the 1000th DFB international match against Ukraine.
“It was hard to celebrate, but I’m more of a reticent person. It’s still difficult to realize, I need a few more days. But the days were nice, even with family and friends who were all in the stadium.”Gundogan said.
Flick continues to rely on the chain of three
Despite the blatant defensive weaknesses in the anniversary game against Ukraine in Bremen, Flick had announced that he wanted to try the new game system with a back three again in the second of three friendlies at the end of the season.
But he demands a different execution on the pitch. “We have to defend more uncompromisingly“, said the national coach. Marc-André ter Stegen should be back in goal in Warsaw after Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp had a chance in Bremen.
Internal support from Völler
Sporting director Rud Völler dismissed emerging criticism of the national coach on Wednesday morning. When asked if Flick would stay, Völler replied on “Hit Radio FFH”: “Ja, of course“.Flick be”an absolute top coach who does everything to ensure that we bring the enthusiasm back to Germany in the next few games.”