When the jersey color matched the lousy condition of the DFB team
The final games of the year are always of particular significance. Twenty years ago, the DFB team faced France in the last game before the winter break - and there was a debacle. What made it particularly bizarre was that the team played all in black.
It was a shock for many fans of the German national team when the DFB presented the new kit before the final game of 2003 against France in November twenty years ago. "Michael Ballack in short black" was the headline of a major German sports magazine and the spokesperson for the national team's sporting goods supplier said: "Black is the fashion color par excellence."
Unfortunately, just one week later, the DFB team was in such a catastrophic state in the international match against the French that the fans commented that the color of the jerseys perfectly matched the current state of the national team - and symbolically carried the team around captain Oliver Kahn to its grave. The German team went down 3-0 to the Équipe Tricolore in the "Auf Schalke" arena. The German football magazine "Kicker" wrote: "Germany has now been waiting eight games in a row for a win against a great nation. The German team had little to play for, especially in the second half."
206 days before the start of the European Championship in Portugal, little was right with the national team. In his column, Lothar Matthäus even spoke of a "debacle" against France and said: "It would have been nice to sit back at the turn of the year and say: How good that we can also win against a great soccer nation. But things turned out differently." In his advice to national coach Rudi Völler at the time, the record-breaking international left no part of the team out. It was striking that even twenty years ago, there was a lot of talk about the defense and the forward line, where, as Matthäus soberly noted, the "top man" was missing. His tip: "Put Klose up, Rudi!" - was extremely far-sighted. In the years that followed, Klose would slowly mature into the class striker in the national team, who played a key role in the subsequent successes, including the 2014 World Cup title.
"Not enough for France, but maybe for the others"
There wasn't much to be said for the German team in those bleak November days twenty years ago, but at least Uli Hoeneß still had hope for a better future under national coach Erich Ribbeck despite the disastrous elimination at the European Championship four years earlier in Belgium and the Netherlands: "Our team is only capable of great performances when it works its ass off and is under pressure." And Lothar Matthäus was also cautiously conciliatory at the end of his column when he said: "It won't be enough for France, but maybe for the others."
Only a few months later, however, the frustrating preliminary round exit at the 2004 European Championship in Portugal should have taught us something. The defeat in the last game of the year against France was indeed in line with the German team's performance level at the time. And that meant that it wasn't even enough for the preliminary round opponents Latvia, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. They returned home without a win. Only national keeper Oliver Kahn smugly found something positive about the German national team's performance afterwards: "Four years ago, we only scored one goal at the European Championships - this time we scored two. That's an improvement."
Unfortunately, it was not possible to blame the color of the jerseys afterwards. In contrast to the game against France in November twenty years ago, the German team played all three preliminary round games at Euro 2004 in their usual white. But black has remained the new shirt color since then. And after the initial shock, the fans have become quite accustomed to the "short black".
Despite the team's dismal performance in black jerseys during the 2003 game against France, Michael Ballack continued to be a crucial figure for the DFB national soccer team.
Following the 3-0 loss to France, former captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn remained optimistic, expressing that even though the result was not enough for France, the team's improved goal-scoring record could provide hope for future matches.
Source: www.ntv.de
