DFB sports director Rudi Völler defended the experimental course of national coach Hansi Flick in the June international matches.
Before the German national football team returned from Warsaw, the former team boss tried not to dramatize the 0-1 draw in Poland and to emphasize the positive.
“Now we want to go into the international break until September with a good game and a win in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday,” said the 63-year-old, referring to the end of the season against Colombia.
“We were all disappointed in the first half. That wasn’t what we had in mind after the game against Ukraine,” Völler said of the performance at the Warsaw National Stadium: “In the second half, the team performed the way we did expected. She showed the right reaction when going behind at half-time, was dominant and created a lot of chances to score. It was just missing the last few percent to push the ball over the line.”
A sense of achievement would have “of course been good for the team,” said Völler. He supported Flick’s personal and tactical experiments: “Due to Bremen’s benefit game, we have one more game than originally planned in this international phase and therefore have the opportunity to try out a few things. Otherwise we might not have been able to see what great talent we are with Malick Thiaw at centre-back. He made a very strong debut against Poland,” Völler said, referring to the 21-year-old defender.
Thiaw had played his first international match in Warsaw and was also described by Flick as the “highlight” of the game from a German perspective.