Leon Goretzka: "We boxed ourselves in too much"
German international footballer Leon Goretzka is convinced of the 2024 European Championship home project under national coach Julian Nagelsmann.
He thinks it's a clever solution with the contractual situation because it means that nobody talks about it, said the FC Bayern Munich midfielder in the "Copa TS" podcast by Tommi Schmitt and Studio Bummens. The initial decisions made by the DFB and Nagelsmann were extremely good, he said.
"The project is geared towards the European Championship. And yet the credo has been set by us and also by the coach: We no longer talk about wanting to spark euphoria in our country, we simply want to play soccer that will then, in turn, spark euphoria. This sequence is crucial," said Goretzka.
Mistakes in the past
At the end of September, Julian Nagelsmann had only signed a contract as successor to Hansi Flick as national coach until the end of next year's home European Championship. In his first two international matches, he and the DFB team won 3-1 against the USA and drew 2-2 with Mexico. The German national team will play Turkey in Berlin on Saturday and Austria in Vienna on November 21.
Goretzka said that mistakes had been made in the past in dealing with the fans, "that we boxed ourselves in too much". Of course we want to be more open now, but he still finds discussions about autograph sessions and public training sessions "ridiculous", said the 28-year-old.
He continued: "At the end of the day, it's still about playing good soccer, and that's the top priority again. Everything else will take care of itself. I'm 100 percent convinced that everyone in Germany is up for this tournament. And we're simply there to get ourselves in good shape by then and play a good tournament. Then we can have a great summer."
Leon Goretzka, the DFB's National team midfielder from FC Bayern Munich, commended the strategy of focusing on soccer performance rather than sparking national euphoria for the 2024 European Championship under Julian Nagelsmann. Goretzka, who supports Nagelsmann's initial decisions, pointed out that mistakes were made in the past, such as boxing themselves in too much in dealing with fans. Despite finding discussions about autograph sessions and public training sessions redundant, he emphasized the importance of playing quality soccer, which, in turn, would spark national enthusiasm.
Source: www.dpa.com
