Why the current criticism of the DFB-Team is weak-minded
As we now know: Germany was eliminated in the quarter-finals against the later tournament winner Spain. And this loss was unfortunately unfortunate! However, experts like Oliver Kahn and Berti Vogts criticize the German National Team led by Julian Nagelsmann - and that's way beyond the point.
In the last few days, former national players Berti Vogts and Oliver Kahn have expressed critical remarks about the German National Team of Julian Nagelsmann. In particular, the former national coach and European Championship coach of 1996, Berti Vogts, wants to question everything in German football once again. However, his words come at an inopportune time. After all, the feeling that a German team finally stood on the pitch at the European Championship, which had the potential to win the title, was not just a fluke - it was the result of a well-thought-out process and an idea. This German team ultimately failed for something else.
But back to the criticism of Vogts and Kahn. These are the typical calls that follow the titleless runs of the German National Team, almost stereotypically. So Berti Vogts criticized in his column in the "Rheinische Post": "We can no longer just be a football country, we have to become a great football nation again. That's why the DFB has to ask itself: What's wrong with us?" Oliver Kahn also calls for a look beyond the horizon, to other nations ("... just like the English do it ...", Oliver Kahn), who allegedly do everything so much better than the German National Team. Vogts even went so far as to put forward the steep thesis that "Spain, France, and England" have "passed us by" with their national teams.
Demands from the Peanut Gallery
Even if one may agree with Berti Vogts that there was a lack of necessary criticism from the "experts and in the media" after Germany's relatively early exit in the quarter-finals against the later tournament winner Spain - especially Nagelsmann's coaching in the first half and possibly the lack of courage in the extension with the addition of Waldemar Anton would have certainly provided food for thought - the supposed solutions presented by Vogts are wrong: "We urgently need real pragmatists, players who have been active internationally and have experienced football at that level."
Independently of whether the criticism is a hidden frontal attack on Julian Nagelsmann, who himself has admitted that he - due to a lack of experience at the highest level - sometimes seeks advice from his co-trainer Sandro Wagner, are the demands from the peanut gallery, which are always dug up anew when things supposedly don't go so well in German football. Such "ideas" are just as explained and - pardon - simplistic, as a sentence from the former national coach, who recently said about the time and team of the World Cup winners in 1974: "We didn't play football because of the coal, but because we had fun." (For the latecomers: In the team camp in Malente, there were departure threats from the DFB players due to unpaid performance fees.)
The Plan Stands: With "Match Luck" to the WM Title
Despite all the criticism, it is a fact that Germany reached the semi-finals at the European Championship and finished third. This is a considerable achievement, especially since the team was considered a long shot at the beginning of the tournament. But the criticism from the experts and the media is not new. The demands for a change in direction and the search for a magic formula have been going on for years. And yet, the German team has shown that it can compete at the highest level. The plan stands: With "match luck" to the World Cup title.
Oliver Kahn had meant: "We lack this instinct, this ruthless attitude, to really make the bag, mercilessly hit, as the English do and show: They don't need many chances." Despite the fact that there was indeed something to this statement, especially before the Nagelsmann era, former national goalkeeper Kahn can certainly be asked: Exactly where was this "ruthless attitude" of the English in the final against Spain, when they desperately needed it in the closing phase of the game?
Of course, not everything was good with the German national team at this EM. And it was certainly not helpful, as described above, that Julian Nagelsmann again, in the decisive quarterfinal, tended to experiment. This was evident in the uncertainty of the team in the first 45 minutes. But what made the difference in this game against Spain was something else. It was something that one calls "match luck." In the decisive moments of the game against the new European champion, the German national team lacked this one turn of fate that would have steered the game in the other direction. Indeed, the DFB team was not worse than Spain overall on that day, as the general consensus of experts also indicated.
And Nagelsmann and his team and the squad must build on this in the coming weeks and months. If the era of experimentation continues to belong to the past and if one relies on a rigid framework with fixed positions, then this team can mature. And who knows? If then, as in previous tournaments, the luck of the German team also catches up with them in the decisive moment, everything is possible. And yes, dear Julian Nagelsmann: The already targeted WM title 2026 in Canada, Mexico, and the USA!
- Berti Vogts, expressing his views in a column for the "Rheinische Post," suggests that the German Football Association (DFB) should reflect on its actions, stating, "We can no longer just be a football country, we have to become a great football nation again."
- In anticipation of the European Football Championship 2024 and the Football World Cup 2026, former national player Oliver Kahn looks to other nations for inspiration, remarking, "Just like the English do it, we should also consider what they're doing differently and learn from it."
- Despite the criticism from experts like Vogts and Kahn, Julian Nagelsmann maintains hope for future success, as he aims to guide the German Football-NationalTeam towards victory at the World Cup in 2026, stating, "If we can rely on match luck in the decisive moments, everything is possible."
