After the premature return from Qatar, the process of coming to terms with the World Cup debacle has begun. Tournament director Philipp Lahm is highly concerned with a view to the home European Championship 2024.
His battered national players are already heading for their first holiday destinations, but for Hansi Flick there is no time off. Immediately after his return from Qatar, the disgraced national coach began to come to terms with the World Cup debacle, thus following the unmistakable message of his boss Bernd Neuendorf. The DFB president had emphatically demanded “a sporting analysis of this tournament” for the meeting with Flick, Oliver Bierhoff and his deputy Hans-Joachim Watzke scheduled for next week.
Flick, who has been criticised, is now being challenged, and his job is at stake. At a late-night farewell dinner after the team’s bitter exit from the preliminary round in the team quarters of Al-Ruwais, he swore his team in for the big goal of a home European Championship in 2024. It seems likely that he will still be in office then, given a convincing analysis. Neuendorf, however, expects him to have “perspectives with a view to the European Championship in his own country”.
Like Neuendorf, Philipp Lahm is on high alert, the tournament is supposed to be nothing less than a summer fairytale 2.0. “Now we have to find the right people, also with a view to the home European Championship, which starts in 18 months and for which the performance is of course a disaster, we don’t need to beat about the bush,” wrote the worried EURO tournament director in his column for the RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland.
For Lahm, the team seemed “leaderless”. The 2014 World Cup captain criticised Flick: “Our centre-backs are physically strong, but they have deficits when it comes to tactical discipline. It would have been all the more important to get into the swing of things in the months before the tournament and decide on an axis. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. “
Developing this axis is of elementary importance. The DFB team must not lose any time in doing so. The next two international matches are scheduled for March, and the opponents and venues have not yet been decided. The same applies to the 1000th match in the association’s history, which will be played in June. Further double match days for test matches are blocked in September, October and November. As hosts, the four-time world champions do not have to qualify for the European Championship.
The DFB team cannot afford any major experiments. At the World Cup, there was a lack of clear structures, procedures and leading players. Flick himself moved away from principles set in stone. Joshua Kimmich was suddenly shunted back to right back, Thomas Müller was the striker in two out of three games. Both measures were ineffective.
The potential that was certainly there was only called up in rudimentary form. “We have great players, but we have to get it going in the right direction,” Matthias Sammer demanded on MagentaTV. Flick will probably continue to bear the responsibility. Jürgen Klopp, the preferred candidate of many fans, wants to fulfil his contract at Liverpool FC, which runs until 2026, according to his advisor.
Thomas Tuchel would be available after his departure from Chelsea FC. However, Tuchel and Watzke have a bad relationship due to their time together at Borussia Dortmund. For Sammer, it is less about people than about fundamental things. “Do we actually still have an identity in our football? That’s the question I would focus on in the analysis,” said the 1996 European champion.
Flick and his staff are working on that. Neuendorf is eagerly awaiting the results.