Chaotic at the back, haphazard up front – Germany says goodbye to the summer break with a bad performance against Colombia. The fans whistled mercilessly at the DFB team after another bankruptcy on Tuesday evening (06/20/2023).
And that was fully deserved, because the result could have been even better than 2-0 (1-0) for the South Americans. It could now be tight for the visibly battered national coach Hansi Flick – even if DFB sporting director Rudi Völler had clearly expressed his confidence in him before the game.
Only one year left until the EURO
But there is currently little that gives hope for improvement a year before the European Championship in your own country. On the contrary: It seems to be getting worse from game to game.
Ilkay Gündogan, who led the team onto the field as captain that evening, then found clear words on the sports show microphone: “A lot of things come together, but if you want to sum it up, then it’s a lack of courage. You can see an insecurity in the team. But if you don’t manage to call up the supposed potential over a longer period of time, then in the end it’s a question also the question of quality.”
Goretzka – “Whistles hurt extremely”
Leon Goretzka admitted: “It was missing in many corners and ends, we had no presence in the box. When we switched to a back four, there was still some momentum, but if you don’t win the games then there’s no use looking for something positive. It does but extremely painful to be booed here. We have to stop talking about wanting to spark euphoria – but just do it.”
Robin Gosens said, also to the sports show: “At the moment everything feels like it’s going against us. But then there’s also no greed to force a dirty win, instead we prefer to play the safety pass. But I – and we as a team – are definitely still full of Hansi Flick , his idea and his way.”
Völler sees some players overwhelmed
DFB sports director Rudi Völler did not want to discuss Flick, but found clear words about the squad: “It’s a quality issue in Germany at the moment, I saw it too positively at the beginning. We have a few players who are a bit behind and won’t make it for the European Championship either. Now we have to invite the right players in September and get up again.”
Flick admitted: “I’m very frustrated, if the results are missing, you don’t have any arguments either. We have to analyze everything now, draw the right conclusions from it and keep working.”
The extreme problems both in the defensive as well as in the offensive area, the last one at the 3:3 against Ukraine and were visible in the 0:1 against Poland, continued seamlessly against the Colombians. In the back three, which Flick again favored, chaos broke out at times. And practically nothing went forward at all: the DFB team didn’t fire a single shot on goal until just before the break whistle.
Luis Diaz and his teammates celebrate their opening goal
Can and Thiaw badly positioned
In the 14th minute, Yerry Mina had the 1-0 for the guests on his head because Malick Thiaw and Emre Can blocked each other next to him – but the ball flew just wide. Thiaw made a brilliant save after just under half an hour, and at great risk slid the ball away from Luis Diaz, who had broken through completely free. Colombia vehemently claimed a penalty, but Thiaw actually touched the ball minimally.
The pressure from the Colombians increased steadily, in the 30th minute Marc-André ter Stegen fished a long-range shot from central defender Mina, who kept pushing up, just out of the corner.
Embarrassing: First degree in the 45th minute
From the German midfield – without Joshua Kimmich, Florian Wirtz and Julian Brandt – nothing came offensively. The only halfway promising action was initiated by Marius Wolf with a long wing change to Robin Gosens, but he missed the ball in front of Colombia’s keeper Camilo Vargas when accepting it.
Embarrassing: Germany only had the first final action in the 45th minute. Kai Havertz, who, as a central striker, usually regarded the penalty area as a taboo zone, had set Jamal Musiala in the limelight, whose volley was no problem for Vargas under pressure. The reaction of the Gelsenkirchen audience, who were not exactly spoiled in the past season, at halftime: loud whistles.
Can’s ball loss against Borré
And it got even worse. Flick stuck to his tactics with a three-man defense and without a real striker in the second round, which seemed almost stubborn – and was punished. After Can lost the ball to Raphael Borré in the build-up, Germany acted lethargically and passively, allowing Juan Cuadrado to cross unhindered and Diaz to head in freely – especially Thiaw, who was still praised against Poland, was completely in a vacuum.
The deficit after 55 minutes was well deserved, the whistle grew louder and Colombia almost followed suit: Diaz put the ball on the edge of the penalty area for Jhon Arias, who – once again completely unchallenged – aimed just over the German goal.
One change, two corrections
After 65 minutes, Flick then corrected two mishaps with a change: Niclas Füllkrug came on for Emre Can, so the completely indisposed back three was broken and finally an attacker with a presence in the penalty area was on the pitch.
In terms of play, however, things did not get any better in the period that followed, only in the duels did intensity return: Füllkrug and Benjamin Henrichs, who also came on as a substitute, picked up a yellow card for two hard tackles, in which the Colombians also had something like physical resistance from the DFB team for the first time felt.
Kimmich comes and causes a penalty
The hope that this game could still be saved was then shattered seconds after Kimmich came on. He had been on the pitch for less than a minute when the ball flew to his right hand in the penalty area – Cuadrado accepted the penalty gift and made the decision 2-0 in the 82nd minute.
The planned advertising for the EURO with ambassador Philipp Lahm, a large number of children in the stadium and the presentation of the EM mascot in the form of a bear practically turned into the opposite due to the performance that was anything but strong as a bear: The mood in our own country is with a view to the upcoming tournament has hit rock bottom.