Nuremberg (dpa) – The former national goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke believes that the national soccer team can play a good role at the World Cup in Qatar after the successful restart under Hansi Flick.
“The games under Hansi went great, you have to say that very clearly,” Köpke told the German Press Agency shortly before his 60th birthday. Flick replaced Joachim Löw as national coach after the European Championship. With seven wins in seven international matches, the 57-year-old has set a starting record as national coach.
Köpke points to a central difference to the end of the Löw era. “The team scored a lot of goals, which we haven’t had under Joachim Löw lately. That was like a common thread. We had crazy chances to score, but we didn’t score and we were punished for it. That’s the case under Hansi different.”
Köpke sees the development of the DFB selection “really positive”. With a view to the World Cup, he said: “The boys are doing well. And if you get into the tournament well, if you get into a flow, then a lot is possible. Because we have good players.” The European champion goalkeeper from 1996 is excited about the upcoming games in the Nations League against European champions Italy and European Championship finalists England. “You can measure yourself against really good opponents, where you can move even closer together once the successes are there. So we will certainly play a very good role at the World Cup.”
For him, Flick is the ideal candidate to succeed Löw. “Hansi is doing great, even before at Bayern Munich,” said Köpke. From 2006 until winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Flick was an assistant to Löw, like Köpke. “One could have imagined another Jürgen Klopp as the successor to Joachim Löw,” said Köpke: “But Kloppo was never a real issue because he is at Liverpool FC. Hansi still knows many players. The philosophy also suits him. “