Dortmund (dpa) – Almost three weeks before the national team’s first international match in 2022, national soccer coach Hansi Flick announced the greatest possible goal for the World Cup year.
“It’s nice how the players pull together, how everyone implements the guidelines well. You can feel a spirit of optimism there. Everyone wants to be there in Qatar. Everyone wants to be world champions. That’s our big goal. We’re not stacking too low,” said Flick in the ARD “Sportschau”.
“We want to try to always bring our performance into the game,” said the former, very successful coach of FC Bayern Munich and former world champion assistant to Joachim Löw.
As Loew’s successor, the 57-year-old has set a record as national coach with seven wins in the first seven international matches under his leadership. The national team will come together for the first time this year on March 21 in Frankfurt/Main to prepare for the friendlies in Sinsheim against Israel (March 26) and then in Amsterdam against the Netherlands (March 29).
“We have a very strong team as opponents in the Nations League, but also in March with Holland,” said Flick. In the Nations League in June and September, Germany will meet European champions Italy, European Championship finalists England and Hungary in two-legged games. The World Cup finals in Qatar begin on November 21st and end with the final on December 18th. The preliminary round groups will be drawn in Doha on April 1st.