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To get it over with right away and at the beginning: Yes, there had been a deep gray cloud over Leipzig all day and then all evening. Sometimes it let out a bit of a nasty drizzle, but there was no crack through which sunlight could penetrate the earth, no lightning, no reflections.
The dark cloud over the national team, which DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff had conjured up on Monday, was actually there in the reality of November 2020 and a weak 1-0 win over the Czech Republic with a team you’ll never see play again. together, they are most likely not ready to make this cloud disappear so soon. Although it was the first zero match of the year and although the team of national coach Joachim Löw remained defeat-free in the sixth international match of the year.
The players on the pitch, who are mostly inexperienced in DFB appearances, shouldn’t be blamed for this. Löw and Bierhoff have recently complained several times that the public treated young players unfairly and unfairly (most of whom are not so young anymore). In truth, there was hardly any criticism, indeed it was triggered by the work of Bierhoff and Löw. But even Wednesday the criticism of the players’ actions on the pitch would not have helped.
An international match that had to be played
The team only had a sensible training session before the game. There were two rookies in the starting lineup: Philipp Max and Ridle Baku, and Jonas Hofmann and Florian Neuhaus of Gladbach, two professionals who played their second international match. Expecting coordinated paths and combinations of blind passages from them would have been inactive. “In this constellation” they will probably no longer perform together, Löw also pointed out after the match. A once and never game that will soon be forgotten. It was such an international game that it had to be played. Just like the scorpion it can’t help but sting.
The arduous search for knowledge of this game ends in the summer of next year, in which, according to the UEFA programming, a European football championship is still scheduled. And you end with the question: which of those who won 1-0 against the Czech Republic on this cold Leipzig evening in the deserted stadium has the chance to experience this EM as a participant and team member?
Löw’s staff selection before tournaments has been a constant over the years – surprises are rare, most players are already set up a year earlier. It is no different this time either. From the team that competed in Leipzig, Ilkay Gündogan and Antonio Rüdiger secured their seats, both of them could have objected to playing if all other established players had been spared.
But Löw also needed some leaders for this team. And so Gündogan had the honor of being the captain for the first time. Rüdiger’s neighbor Robin Koch of central defense received Löw praise this week. Now you can imagine it as a support in the defense center.
Max and Baku left impressions
Behind the two it will be tight for the other Leipzig players. Max and Baku left some good impressions, defensive outside positions are almost traditionally not the strength of this team. At least your outlook hasn’t gotten worse. Both are also regular players at their clubs, which they have ahead of their defensive colleagues Jonathan Tah and Nico Schulz.
Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp will have a hard time securing third place as goalkeeper, which should be reserved for Bernd Leno. Jonas Hofmann was injured early and failed to stand out. Neuhaus managed to do it with another courageous appearance. Both Borussia just have the problem that there are actually enough offensive options. More established players, more relaxed. Löw player.
This is also the problem of Julian Brandt, who is actually in favor of the national team coach. But Brandt missed an opportunity in Leipzig too, and perhaps that was the most emphatic intuition of that night. The Dortmund player is extremely talented on the ball, but again and again he makes mistakes with the stick, runs stuck, confuses zeal with excessive zeal. The national team manager has given him numerous opportunities to show off and score against offensive competition. Brandt now has 34 international matches, which is no small number. But he couldn’t convince on Wednesday either. Once he had a big break in the first half and threw the ball instead of into goal, well exactly, in the clouds.
20 years ago, after the unsuccessful tournament of the European Championship in 2000 and the home World Cup, the DFB came up with the idea of bringing young players into their team. Thus was born the “Team 2006”, it should be the talent pool of the future. Ten players were assigned to this so-called prospect team before the draft was crushed again. Most of those deployed at that time were long forgotten, from Martin Meichelbeck to Bernd Korzynietz and Benjamin Lense to Frank Fahrenhorst. Some like Arne Friedrich and Mario Gomez later actually made the high jump, but this eleven from Leipzig was very reminiscent of the attempts made by the foresight team at the time.
After the final whistle on Wednesday, the stadium control suddenly and very loudly sounded Handel’s “Alleluia”. It wasn’t entirely clear who he was for. The restricted victory. Or the fact that the game was over.
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