The many special DFB roles of Thomas Mueller
That was it for him: Thomas Müller's National team career comes to an end with the Home European Championship.
Thomas Müller had found a new role. It wasn't on the field, but on the sidelines. However, that wasn't entirely accurate: In reality, it was more in the catacombs of the Football European Championship stadiums. In Munich, he was sitting with both hands on the table after the spectacular 5:1 opening match against Scotland. It was like being part of a horse act, he joked. Meanwhile, in the same building, Julian Nagelsmann was holding a press conference.
And while the national team trainer was announcing, not stepping on the euphoria brake, Müller did just that. At his table, the 34-year-old referred to "emotional overload." A good feeling still doesn't win games. A 5:1 EM opening match are just three points in the group phase. Müller was overshadowed by the team's recent tournament failures, as Germany and the DFB team hadn't reached a semifinal since 2016. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, they were eliminated in the group stage, and they repeated that feat four years later in Qatar.
His new attribute, Müller discovered last season at FC Bayern under coach Thomas Tuchel during the pandemic season, when he organized things and declared, "Radio Müller" no longer just played the hits but also the thoughtful pieces. But with the DFB team's EM mission, he was much more than that. In Nagelsmann's role system, he was the "connector," the social glue. He was supposed to connect the "yodlers" (whomever that was) with the "rappers." He had succeeded in that, which could be observed during the games. He exchanged words with magical Jamal Musiala, explained Superjoker Niclas Füllkrug before his substitution, and even showed the national trainer something on the field.
Still "top of the league"?
Now Thomas Müller's DFB career is over, as he announced in a YouTube video. It shows him on a sports field. He wears his last Germany jersey. "Here in Pähl on this sports field is where it all began. My immense passion for football. When I was able to play my first international match for the German national team 14 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to imagine all the great victories and bitter defeats," he said: "Sometimes lying on the ground, only to get back up again. Competing against the best players in the world, alongside fantastic teammates, with whom I have experienced countless unforgettable moments."
Müller was a completely new type of national player. Describing his playing style was difficult: He was that slippery guy who did unexpected things. The one who called himself a space explorer, who knew what was coming next and always seemed to be in the right place. Earlier, he was known for scoring goals with his shin. Müller was not the best footballer in any attribute and yet, the fans of the national team always wondered why he didn't play.
Since 15 years, Müller said in the EM training camp in Thuringia, Blankenhain, he had essentially been doing the same thing. He tried to create goal opportunities and then finish them. That had worked better or worse in the national team. But in creating chances, "as the data of the season shows," he was still "top of the league," he explained. "A little bit more, that's all he can still do." To prove it, he shared the graphic again at X.
He was less and less present, for FC Bayern and also for the DFB-Team. His appearances at the Home-EM were limited to atmospheric substitutions. At the opening game in Munich, national coach Nagelsmann brought him on because he came from Munich. In the quarter-final loss against Spain, he hoped for a Muller moment at the end, but it didn't come in extra time. Muller sensed it after the whistle: it was his last appearance in the DFB jersey. He ended his career in the national team at the right time: two years before the World Cup 2026 in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Sportingly, there is no real perspective left, Nagelsmann has too many options in the offensive midfield.
He began as a ballboy
Müller stepped onto the world stage of national teams for the first time after his first professional season with FC Bayern. At the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, he won hearts. He appeared without nervousness or touch phobia. The 20-year-old Thomas Müller was still not particularly decorated at the time, in his luggage he had only dozens of Bundesliga scorer points and the praise of former Bayern coach Louis van Gaal: "Müller is incredible, he always plays."
And so followed the then national coach Joachim Löw with this advice. Müller played in every game, except in the semi-final against Spain, where he was yellow-carded. He left a lasting impression with his mischievous behavior: he greeted his grandparents, in tournament preparation he rode his bike, but he covered it up with big exclamations. The story of how Diego Maradona held him up as a ballboy at a press conference before the tournament is still unforgettable.
Maradona's Argentine legend did not happen to him again after the World Cup 2010. Müller had not only secured a place in the DFB team, but also became the top scorer of the tournament with his five goals. Under coach Löw, he was then indispensable. At the European Championships 2012 and 2016, he was always on the field, but never scored a goal. He remains scoreless at continental tournaments.
His big stages are the World Cups. After 2010, this also applies to the title win in 2014. Suddenly, he finds himself no longer on the right wing, but in the middle again. Just like in South Africa, he scored eight scorer points again. In the 3:0 opening match, he is everywhere, almost impossible to grasp for the Portuguese. Even coach Löw admitted that he sometimes didn't quite understand Muller's running paths. In the memorable 7:1 success against the host in the semi-final, he scored the 1:0, it is his last goal in the DFB jersey at a major tournament.
With the DFB's group stage elimination at the World Cup 2018 in Russia, his DFB career also suffered its first major setback. Müller was not in form, in the first game against Mexico, he didn't even shoot at the goal, the form slump was a completely new experience for him. The same applied to the early tournament exit. Coach Löw had to make changes, he sorted out Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng - and Muller.
"An enormous pleasure, dear people" [Quote from Thomas Müller at the World Cup 2010]
For the fan favorite, a new DFB era begins after that. He hovers in limbo once again: Will Mueller return to the German team or not? Although Low dismissed him in 2019, he came back for the last tournament of the national trainer, the EURO 2021. It all hangs on a moment in the round of 16, at Wembley Stadium in London: Thomas Mueller runs freely towards the English goal, he had the equalizer against the English on his foot. But he let it go. England won the EURO 2021 round of 16 with 2:0, Low's long era was over.
Even with his successor Hansi Flick, Mueller hovered in limbo again: Sometimes he was there, sometimes not. He traveled with him to Qatar and played all three group games on the field. However, nothing notable happened to him. In the end, he was in a stadium in the desert, moved to tears, and gave an interview that sounded very much like a farewell. The time with the national team was "an immense pleasure, dear people", he said. He had always kept his heart on the field. But it was not a permanent farewell: National trainer Nagelsmann called him back again: first for the USA trip, the debut of the national coach, and then also for the home EURO.
And now ends Thomas Mueller's DFB career. At the end, he does something unexpected, as he usually does on the field. "For me, the topic of retirement, that I exclude playing for Germany, that won't happen," he said after the loss against the later European champion in the basement of the Stuttgart stadium. It could, however, be that the national trainer and he make a joint decision. So it has come: After 131 games and 45 goals, it's over for him in the DFB jersey and he takes on his role as fan and spectator.
In the YouTube video announcing his retirement from the DFB team, Thomas Müller mentioned his successful goal creation efforts, stating that he was still "top of the league" in this regard.([Müller said in the EM training camp in Thuringia, Blankenhain])
During the Home European Championship, Müller's appearances for the DFB team were limited, mainly consisting of atmospheric substitutions.([His appearances at the Home-EM were limited to atmospheric substitutions])
