He is a guarantee of success at FC Bayern and in the German national team. Nevertheless, Joshua Kimmich is not satisfied with his own performance and that of his team. And angry about the attitude.
With critical words, Joshua Kimmich took responsibility for the national team and himself at the start of the World Cup year. “Since ‘we’ have been at work, we simply haven’t made it. From 2018 it was simply no longer good,” said the FC Bayern Munich professional in the DFB program for the first test international game in 2022 against Israel on Saturday (8:45 p.m. in t -online live ticker).
Kimmich will not be present in Sinsheim because of the forthcoming birth of his third child. With a view to the World Cup in Qatar in late autumn, however, he has clear goals. “Potential is just theory,” said the 27-year-old. “We have to put it on the pitch too.” Like DFB captain and club colleague Manuel Neuer, winning the World Cup is the goal for the 64-time national player.
“Then we won’t get it right again”
“I know we can do better,” said Kimmich. “I know we’re capable of the title,” he added, but stressed self-critically: “We can’t always just say how talented we are, how many of us play important roles in top clubs and then we don’t get it right again .”
Kimmich reached the semi-finals in his first tournament with the DFB-Elf at the EM 2016, in 2017 he won the Confederations Cup with a young team. At the 2018 World Cup and the European Championship in the previous year, disappointments followed with the elimination in the preliminary round and in the round of 16.
Kimmich is still cautious about the subsequent upswing under national coach Hansi Flick with seven wins in seven games. “You have to take a closer look and evaluate which teams we played against.” After all: “We found our way better after the European Championship, that’s for sure,” said Kimmich.