Hansi Flick clinging on to his job as Amazon film lays bare their disastrous World Cup campaign, Leon Goretzka furious over being left out and a miserable run of just one win in five… Germany look anything but ready to win Euro 2024 on home turf
- In nine months’ time, Germany will welcome Europe’s finest footballers
- But their own national team are plagued by doubts following run of bad results
- **Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcastIt’s All Kicking Off **
The last time Germany hosted a major tournament, Die Mannschaft enjoyed their glorious Sommermärchen.
That was in the 2006 World Cup when the hosts breezed their group, knocked out Sweden and Argentina in the knockout rounds before losing a classic semi-final with eventual champions Italy.
Their run during that tournament engendered positivity and optimism throughout the land. Films were made about it afterwards, it became a summer every German will always remember.
As Germany prepares to host Euro 2024, the prospects of a repeat don’t appear great.
With just nine months to go until Germany welcomes Europe’s finest footballers, their own national side remains scarred by last year’s World Cup debacle with flaky results and intense pressure on coach Hansi Flick.
Germany coach Hansi Flick is feeling the heat as his team countdown to a home Euros in 2024
There has been a fuss over Leon Goretzka’s omission from the latest Germany squad
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That World Cup, too, was captured by the film cameras but the tone could not be more different.
Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary of their tumultuous campaign in Qatar is out this week focused on argument in training that undermined team unity and the overbearing politics of the OneLove armband furore.
In one tactical meeting, Flick turns to his coaching staff and players and says: ‘This isn’t the team I imagined, honestly.’
As the newspaper headlines back home turn on the team, Flick moans that ‘we don’t have any support in Germany’ as his players look on with a mixture of boredom and trepidation.
Another team talk scene shows Flick saying ‘we just talked about politics’ in reference to the diplomatic row over Germany and other nations wanting to wear the rainbow OneLove armband in a protest against Qatar’s ban on homosexuality.
And that’s just the trailer for the documentary, so it’s little wonder they lost to Japan and crashed out after the group stage.
Things haven’t really improved since. Germany have won just one of five games since and that came against Peru. They have lost to Belgium, Poland and Colombia, and required a late fightback to draw 3-3 with Ukraine.
In the Amazon trailer, Germany manager Hansi Flick can be seen complaining to his players and the staff that the team at the World Cup isn’t what he imagined
Joshua Kimmich (left) and Antonio Rudiger (right) were involved in a heated exchange
Flick warned his players they had very little support from fans back in Germany
Germany’s torrid run
Since being eliminated after the group stage at the Qatar World Cup
March 25 Peru (H) W 2-0
March 28 Belgium (A) L 2-3
June 12 Ukraine (H) D 3-3
June 16 Poland (A) L 0-1
June 20 Colombia (H) L 0-2
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While it could be argued these friendlies - Germany, of course, qualify automatically for the Euros as hosts - are the ideal place to get mistakes out of the system, these results have put Flick under close scrutiny.
Reports by Sport Bild in Germany suggest Flick is clinging on to his job and needs positive results in this week’s friendly double-header against Japan and France.
With this in mind, the timing of the Amazon documentary release, with it’s drip-drip of revelations from their doomed World Cup campaign, is far from ideal.
The window to get Germany to a level where they can properly challenge in their home Euros is closing and they still appear a long way off being competitive.
Bild claimed the German FA are already lining up potential replacements for Flick - who replaced Joachim Low after Euro 2020 (in 2021) - should results continue to nosedive. He has won just 12 of 24 games at the helm.
One is the man who replaced him as Bayern Munich coach, Julian Nagelsmann, a free agent after the Bundesliga champions dispensed with him back in March.
Eintracht Frankfurt’s Oliver Glasner, whose contract expires just before the tournament, is another reportedly under consideration, likewise Matthias Sammer, currently an adviser at Borussia Dortmund.
But Flick doesn’t always help himself. A row has developed over his omission of one of Germany’s best players, midfielder Leon Goretzka from his latest squad.
Former Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann is one name in the frame to replace Flick
Germany’s players react to their shambolic group stage exit from last year’s World Cup
Fans were devastated after Germany fell at the first hurdle for the second straight World Cup
He discussed the matter with his club coach, Bayern’s Thomas Tuchel, first with the reason given that Goretzka didn’t do enough on the ball when with the national team.
As players tend to do these days, Goretzka put out a statement on social media saying he was ‘extremely disappointed at the surprising decision’ to leave him out of September’s games.
Flick made pains to insist the door was not closed to him - likewise with striker Timo Werner, also left out - but it seems he’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
It could be argued the coach already knows all about what Goretzka, with 53 international games and 14 goals under his belt, has to offer and it’s time to learn more about Felix Nmecha or the uncapped Pascal Gross, of Brighton. After all, isn’t this what friendlies are for?
But it’s all contributed to a sense of foreboding over the leadership of the German team as the Euros loom.
Joshua Kimmich looks dejected after Germany lost their most recent friendly with Colombia
Germany seem a long way short of being able to compete at their home Euros next summer
After the 2-0 loss to Colombia in Gelsenkirchen in June, Goretzka had actually summed up the feeling well.
‘[The situation] is dramatic. We have to say that clearly, it’s difficult to explain,’ he said. ‘Everything is missing, all in all it’s far too little.’
In the meantime, Flick has fallen back on stalwart Thomas Muller, 33, to bolster the forward line.
The Bayern man wasn’t supposed to return to the international fold until next month because of his recovery from a hip injury, but needs must.
Muller has an outstanding record for club and country but seems to boomerang back into the team - let’s not forget Low dropped him over four years ago but he’s played in two tournaments since.
German fans will hope for some kind of spark from Brentford’s Kevin Schade or Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz this time around to prove there is optimism for the future.
But another set of poor results in tough-looking games with Japan, their World Cup nemesis, and France, one of the Euro favourites, will only turn up the heat on Flick even more.
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