Before the group draw for Euro 2024 - Philipp Lahm criticizes Nagelsmann's line-ups - and has a demand
Exactly one year ago, the German national team was - once again - at rock bottom. Although they had won their final group game at the World Cup in Qatar 4:2 against Costa Rica, it was not enough to reach the round of 16. At the same time, Japan had beaten Spain, who, like Germany, finished on four points in the final standings. Unfortunately, the Spaniards had scored seven goals (!) in their first match against Costa Rica and thus won the direct goal comparison against the DFB team. The dream of a World Cup title, or at least of a reasonably successful tournament, was shattered and German soccer was one painful failure richer.
Now the European Championships are coming up next year in their own country. And the closer the tournament gets, the greater the worries surrounding the national team. New national coach Julian Nagelsmann has not yet found a recipe to get the German team back on track as the successor to the sacked Hansi Flick. That may be asking too much after four games, but the nervousness is growing. This can be seen from the fact that tournament director Philipp Lahm got carried away with a clear criticism of Nagelsmann shortly before the European Championship group draw at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg on Saturday. As the man responsible for the major event, Lahm believes his job is in danger. The 2014 world champion wants to create a second summer fairytale - to do so, he needs a German team that doesn't fail miserably in the preliminary round or in the round of 16, as was the case at the last European Championship.
Philipp Lahm is obviously worried about the DFB team
On Deutschlandfunk's "Players - Der Sportpodcast", Lahm made it clear what he thinks of Nagelsmann's latest personnel experiments: namely nothing at all. "What actually characterizes a team? What kind of cohesion is needed to play successful soccer? That's what I want from the current team too, from the coach, that he puts the players in the right positions where they have experience," he said.
Without naming names, Lahm alluded to Nagelsmann 's tactical measure of deploying Kai Havertz in the unfamiliar position of left-back in the national team's recent European Championship test matches. Even though the Arsenal professional was very attack-minded and played well overall, the tactical structure of the DFB team was disrupted on several occasions, particularly in the 3-2 defeat to Turkey. Nagelsmann stuck to his tactics in the subsequent 2-0 defeat to Austria without success.
Lahm calls for a different mentality in the team. The players need to know "what are they actually doing this for, what am I actually playing for, who am I actually playing for in the national team," said Lahm. For him, the 2006 home World Cup was an example of this, when the mood was also precarious just three months before kick-off after a 4-1 defeat in Italy, but the team then improved enormously during the tournament.
Philipp Lahm: We drew our conclusions in 2006
"We drew our conclusions from 2006. Everyone concentrated on the essentials, on their role in the team and put themselves at the service of the team. I think that was a big key to success, that everyone knew that this chance only comes once in a lifetime," Lahm recalled of the 2006 summer fairytale.
But there will be no other parallel to the home World Cup, the honorary captain assured. In contrast to that tournament, this time there will be no scandals involving possible corruption and misconduct by officials. "I can promise that. Everything was transparent and open, so I can put my hand in the fire, so to speak, for myself and my organization," promised Lahm.
The European Championship groups will be drawn in Hamburg on Saturday (18:00/ZDF, RTL and MagentaTV). As the hosts, Germany are seeded first in Group A. Possible tough opponents are Italy, the Netherlands, but also Austria and Turkey again.
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Source: www.stern.de
