With Plan A, Julian Nagelsmann was next to it. But with Plan B he made good decisions again. He was not only rewarded with a win.
With Plan A, Julian Nagelsmann was next to it. But with Plan B, he made good decisions that led to victory in Italy and strengthen the belief that the German footnational ball is back among the big ones.
There are still only plans, and they are still vague, but the year should not be too far away in which the two city clubs from Milan build a new stadium. According to the vague plans, it should be built right next to the iconic Giuseppe Meazza, which is still popularly called San Siro. So it used to be named after the district where it has been standing for almost a century.
A last evening in San Siro?
The German national soccer team will remember the San Siro, primarily because of the 1990 World Cup, because here it prepared the way to win the title later, including a 2-1 win in the round of 16 in an epic game against the Netherlands.
The selection of the German Football Association (DFB) on Thursday (20.03.2025) may have competed in the San Siro for the last time. She would also remember this game very well, because it was also won 2-1.
The DFB team is popular again
As in the previous four years, a victory was achieved in the first game of the calendar year. The successes against Iceland, Israel and Peru – each in home games – have been ticked off as dutiful. It looked very different about twelve months ago when Germany won 2-0 in France and thus initiated a trend reversal.
The German football fans like their national team again. On Thursday there were about 3,500 German fans in Giuseppe Meazza. They celebrated the success in the Nations League quarter -finals long after the final whistle.
The game in France about a year ago began to choose DFB, because Florian Wirtz scored after just eight seconds. He was now missing because of his injury in Milan, and that contributed to the fact that national coach Julian Nagelsmann analyzed after the game in the sports show: “The first half was tough. We were not good in the structure. We walked around a bit wildly, hardly got into the processes.”
Nagelsmann demanded a lot. Too much?
He had contributed to this, for example by putting Leroy Sané on the side of Jonathan Burkhardt in the storm. Nadiem Amiri played on the right, unlike the 1st FSV Mainz 05. “These were many new processes, both with the ball and against the ball,” said returnee Amiri, “Julian demands a lot from us, but he can do that too.”
When Julian Nagelsmann started the job as a national coach, he said that he wanted to keep it rather, among other things, because he had much fewer training sessions with the national team than with a club team.
In Italy, Nagelsmann initially demanded a lot from his players, maybe he overwhelmed them too. In any case, the team had hardly any ideas on how opportunities are to be played out against largely man -covering Italians. Dribbling from Jamal Musiala might have been an idea, but the Munich was usually too far away from the goal and the dangerous rooms.
Small service in the storm, Schlotterbeck as Left -back
Nagelsmann was therefore challenged during the half -time break, and he presented solutions that were convinced and led to success. With Tim Kleindienst, he now set up a top -class header, which could sometimes be operated with flanks. The fact that the first of Joshua Kimmich landed perfectly on small servants, and the header perfectly to 1-1 in the goal, can hardly be planned by a trainer. But it happened exactly according to the instructions, and so not only structure came into play, but also the momentum, which ultimately even led to victory.
The idea of putting the regular central defender Nico Schlotterbeck on the left end of the chain of four, instead of replacing the weak David room with left -back Maximilian Mittelstädt after the break, was also good. On the one hand, Schlotterbeck stabilized the defensive, on the other hand, he allowed his good opening that Goretzka – as desired by Nagelsmann – found his basic position in the second half.
Faith is back
The second leg in Dortmund is still pending on Sunday, and the lead is scarce. But as an intermediate conclusion of the first international game in 2025 it says that Julian Nagelsmann further increased the number of his good decisions.
The fact that he gave goalkeeper Oliver Baumann ahead of Oliver Alexander Nübel that he got Leon Goretzka back is also on the list.
The German national team has the belief again in every stadium in the world, also in San Siro against a good Italy after deficiency. The certainty that the trainer has different plans and throws them over the pile if they do not work to unpack a better faith.