DFB-Elf before Peru: “That will not inspire one or the other” – Sport

The soccer player Joshua Kimmich, 28, has had many well-known coaches in his almost ten-year professional career. The most famous were: Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Jogi Löw, Jupp Heynckes, Hansi Flick and Niko Kovac. When asked on Friday, Kimmich did not reveal which two of these six still appear in his personal top three list. But he definitely revealed which coach is definitely on this list of favourites: Julian Nagelsmann.

In a press conference that Kimmich gave as the current captain of the German national team in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon, he said: “Julian Nagelsman is an outstanding coach. I’ve had a lot of top trainers, but he’s easily in the top three of my best trainers.” Loose, that means: Nagelsmann is probably at least second, maybe he’s even first in Kimmich’s ranking. But that’s speculation Bayern’s defensive midfielder said nothing.

Kimmich’s statement clearly revealed what he thought of Nagelsmann’s dismissal in Munich: nothing. He didn’t say it like that, but he was happy to let it be known. And he has revealed that despite the upcoming international match against Peru, he has a lot to think about: “After all, this is about the coach you work with every day. Of course, that keeps you busy.”

On this Saturday evening between 8.45 p.m. and 10.35 p.m., Kimmich will hardly or hardly be able to think about the dismissal of his top three coach, because then he will lead the national team in Mainz into the first friendly since the failure at the World Cup in Qatar. “Of course that shouldn’t play a role during the game,” says Kimmich, “but before and after there’s always a bit of idle time between the training sessions, when you’re in your room and reading one or the other.”

The first tests with the newly composed squad should look “refreshing” and “energetic”.

Oh dear, national coach Hansi Flick might have thought when he found out on Thursday evening that Bayern were parting ways with Nagelsmann. “That won’t exactly inspire one or the other now,” he said briefly on Friday, and if you listened to Captain Kimmich a little later, then Flick is probably absolutely right with his assumption. With Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry there are only three Bayern players in the national team squad this time, but with Nico Schlotterbeck, Marius Wolf and Emre Can there are also three players from Borussia Dortmund – and they will be playing next Saturday (April 1st). ) the Bundesliga summit meeting at Bayern and will now be racking their brains about what it means for them that the series champion will then be looked after by Thomas Tuchel for the first time.

“It’s my job now to talk to the players about it,” said the national coach Flick and had to address something that he didn’t even have on the agenda. He just wants to spark new momentum in a DFB team that was eliminated in the preliminary round of the World Cup. For this purpose, Flick has appointed six newcomers to the team. The meeting on the occasion of the two games against Peru and Belgium (Tuesday, March 28, in Cologne) was supposed to be “refreshing”, “energetic” and “dynamic” – but now the whole football country, including its national players, is only talking about Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Bayern.

However, it is not to be expected that the news from Munich, 320 kilometers south-east, will have an impact on the German starting eleven in Mainz. It may well be that Kimmich and Goretzka form the FC Bayern double six in front of the defensive line. And it is also to be expected that Leipzig’s Timo Werner and Bremen’s Niclas Füllkrug will form a double lead. Because Flick also spoke of a back four, it all boils down to a kind of 4-2-2-2 formation in which Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz, who has returned to the squad, and Chelsea legionnaire Kai Havertz play a double between double six and double top -Ten could form. Including the two central defenders, this means “four times double” on the central axis, so that Dortmund’s Wolf and Leipzig’s David Raum can run up and down the flanks. That would be tactically a new experience for the national team audience.

The fact that Flick has to emphasize that he wants to win against Peru makes sense in that the difference between Germany and the country in western South America in the world rankings is not that big at the moment. Germany is 14th, Peru 21st. It is the first German international match after the messed up World Cup – and in the early anticipation of the home European Championship in 2024. To this end, Flick has to bundle the thoughts of everyone involved and steer them away from Julian Nagelsmann. What is a famous tenet from the mind control methodology? Don’t think of a pink elephant now!