Miroslav Klose is missing leading players in the German national soccer team.
“I played in the national team for 13 years and we always had a core of boys who more or less determined things themselves – in training, in games, in the dressing room. Now you have many, perhaps too many, of them “Don’t want to take on these tasks,” said the World Cup record goalscorer in an interview with the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland”.
For the 2014 world champion, this is also the main reason that the DFB selection has experienced three tournament disappointments in a row. “The self-image is no longer there, we used to go out: Here come the Germans, nobody can do anything to us. We wore down the opponents in droves, they were afraid of us,” said Klose and added: “We weren’t individual or tactical better, but we intervened. And anyone who wanted to defeat us knew that it would hurt.”
That’s why Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels are important for national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team, even at an advanced age. “They offend, they question – every single one of them. They’re also annoying at times, but that’s incredibly important,” said Klose.