The German national team needs a special spirit to be successful at a World Cup. Oliver Bierhoff is counting on the good mood being generated by victories.
On November 10 (12 p.m.) Flick will announce on the DFB campus who the 26 national players are who are to tackle the World Cup title mission for Germany at the highly controversial World Cup in Qatar (November 20 to December 18). . Four days later, the four-time world champion’s entourage boarded a plane for a five-day short training camp at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Center in Muscat in Oman, where a friendly against Oman (November 16) was to take place.
The start against Japan is a toughness and mood test
Then there won’t be much time left for the first group game against Japan at the Khalifa International Stadium (November 23, 2 p.m.). A lot depends on the opening game, as the World Cup history shows. This time it’s a toughness and mood test at the same time. In the best-case scenario, the national team will generate the spirit of optimism in the first tournament under Flick that emanated from the ecstatic 4-0 win against Portugal at the 2014 World Cup.
What must not happen: that, as at the 2018 World Cup, the fundamental debates start right at the beginning with a sobering 0-1 draw against Mexico. This time, more than ever, an exclamation point is needed. The German Football Association (DFB) likes to issue the slogan at every event that it wants to go back to the top of the world. The women did it impressively at the European Championships in England in a likeable, thrilling way. The men have yet to prove it.
National coach Hansi Flick conjures up a special spirit
Flick white: “The team spirit at a World Cup plays a big role. We want to develop a spirit in Qatar that will carry us through the tournament – and that for as long as possible.” As Löw’s assistant in 2014, he experienced for himself what part the Campo Bahia played in the World Cup. DFB director Oliver Bierhoff also has fond memories of the relaxed days back then in the South Atlantic.
Four years later, there was nothing left of that relaxed atmosphere in Russia. The chosen quarters in Vatutinki near Moscow was a failure, like the 2018 World Cup in general. There was the ballast of the long-underestimated debate about Ilkay Gündogan and Mesut Özil, who had been photographed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The fact that the national players sat in the ugly World Cup camp out of sheer boredom until night at the Playstation was not conducive to form either.
Nobody lives as far away from Doha as the German team
In Qatar, the German national team lives in the Zulal Wellness Resort: a modern hotel complex that only opened this year and is further away from Doha than any other quarters of a World Cup participant.
In Al-Ruwai on the north coast, the team avoids the hustle and bustle of the capital, Doha. The team, sports management and the team behind the team will live in their own area, separated from the rest of the hotel. “We can focus completely on our big task there, work with concentration and regenerate”says Flick. It is an hour to downtown Doha.
DFB director Oliver Bierhoff feels the tension
How are you supposed to be in a good mood when this World Cup, especially in Germany, is seen as a mood killer? Despite all the problems in the desert emirate, Bierhoff recently explained at a World Cup workshop in Frankfurt, “We have to inspire joy for the tournament”. It must be clear that “Our social and sports-political representation is our president”. That means: Bernd Neuendorf talks about such topics, but no longer Flick and his kickers.
Because what shouldn’t happen, according to Bierhoff, “that players say: ‘It’s a shit tournament anyway, and who cares. Then we’ll just go home, win the Champions League with Bayern, and everything will be okay again'”. It is important to get into a positive flow with a good start. “When you’re in that mood, you’re more relaxed about responding to the other topics from time to time.”, emphasizes the 54-year-old. Can this balancing act succeed at all?
The 2018 World Cup was frustrating, the EM 2021 disappointing
Two tournaments are behind the flagship, which has lost a lot of credit. Due to a failed World Cup 2018, which Bierhoff looks back on as “frustrating, bad” designated. And through a peculiar EM 2021, in which “something was missing” have. Both times, however, the name of the national coach was Löw, who was hardly any good as a people-catcher. Bierhoff now also relies on the flick factor.
you have a lot “Trust in Hansi”the “clear in his announcements, in his communication” be. On the one hand, the national coach takes his players with him, on the other hand, he lets them “The players feel when he realizes that there has to be more.” Ultimately, however, the sports management could only create the conditions; Team spirit and sense of togetherness “must come from within”. Maybe something like that just grows out of the desert sand.