No Borussia Dortmund players
In this context, it is interesting who the national coach did not nominate: namely not a single player from Borussia Dortmund, after all the clear number two in the Bundesliga. Mats Hummels is out due to a Covid infection, Marco Reus’ illness intervened, otherwise at least the BVB captain would have been there, assured Flick, but there is currently not enough for players like Emre Can, Mahmoud Dahoud or Julian Brandt during the at Paris St. Gemain, Julian Draxler, who cannot go beyond part-time assignments, is there. Flick comforted the Dortmund group that had not been taken into account with warm words: “It has nothing to do with the fact that the quality is not there. They are further in focus.” But they have to improve if they want to be an issue for the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18).
Newcomers like David Raum and Nico Schlotterbeck from the surprise teams TSG Hoffenheim and SC Freiburg are now much higher up the hierarchy, with Flick immediately promising the blond promoted Schlotterbeck a DFB debut: “He’s going to make his first international, but he still has potential. There needs to be some development.” The same applies to a number of players in the squad. “We just expect everyone to step it up a notch.” The four top-class Nations League games in June against Italy, England and Hungary help the national coach “absolute indicator” (Flick) for World Cup suitability.
The pictures from Ukraine make him think
In general, Flick heard from various conversations that his players were looking forward to the upcoming tasks in the World Cup year. “You get the feeling that everyone wants to be there in Qatar, everyone wants to be world champions. That’s our big goal, and we’re not too big on it.”, said the 57-year-old last time in the ARD sports show. The fifth star should come from the desert World Cup. His starting record of seven wins in seven games gives hope. “The first few weeks and months were outstanding”summed up the national coach, “It’s just nice how everyone pulls together and implements the guidelines well.”
Nevertheless, Flick is also very thoughtful about world events these days. Seeing the pictures from the Ukraine, the family man said from his home office in Bammental, “just hurts”. Therefore he says: “What we do is just football. I expect my team to be fun and joyful at this difficult time; to be a little distraction for all the people who worry a lot.“
The German national team wants to send various messages for peace over the next few days. The peace sign on clothing, banners and bands should characterize the coming days when the entire entourage gathers on Monday (March 21, 2022) in Neu-Isenburg just outside Frankfurt.
The squad
Goal: Manuel Neuer, Marc-André ter Stegen, Kevin Trapp
Defense: Matthias Ginter, Christian Günter, Benjamin Henrichs, Thilo Kehrer, Robin Koch, David Raum, Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Jonathan Tah
midfield and attack: Karim Adeyemi, Julian Draxler, Serge Gnabry, Ilkay Gündogan, Kai Havertz, Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Müller, Jamal Musiala, Florian Neuhaus, Lukas Nmecha, Leroy Sané, Anton Stach, Julian Weigl, Timo Werner