I heard voices / I saw into the dark / it could exist / like nothing in the world … These enigmatic sentences were not invented by Oliver Bierhoff, but by the Hamburg band Tocotronic a few years ago; the lines could also come from the manager of the national team. Bierhoff didn’t hear any voices, but he sees “a dark cloud being pushed over the team” and he wishes everyone would make wind together so that this evil cloud would disappear.
The difference between the texts by Tocotronic and Bierhoff is now obviously as follows: In one case it is about art and poetry, in the other it is a consideration of the mood of the national team, which is given by the specialist media as fire, jerk or complaint speech was referred to, supplemented by the sympathetic observation that the speaker had increased into a “highly emotional” state in the course of the monologue.
You don’t have to protect and mother young professionals
On closer inspection, the lecture was an almost pacifist appeal for more understanding, less malice and a readiness for “positive spirit”. It would be a gain for everyone involved, both for those affected at the DFB and for the currently rather ungracious audience, if Bierhoff, in his capacity as the responsible association director, stood up and set a sharp counterattack against a few critics.
During the international round in October there were many objections to the words and deeds of the national coach. What Joachim Löw said and did – experts like Lothar Matthäus and Bastian Schweinsteiger thought it was wrong and knew better, the media people anyway. Bierhoff would have had enough choice to pick a couple of guys, sometimes polemically. That the DFB and the leadership of the national team have committed themselves to modesty after various missteps is all well and good, but you can keep a little pride and fighting spirit. It’s still about football, and the national team is not an esoteric circle that has to drive away dark clouds.
Bierhoff said one could like to criticize him and Jogi Löw, “as veterans”, but please spare the “young team”. It hurts him “a little how the young players are treated”. It is true that it is appropriate to recognize the players’ commitment to Germany. You could now log off with so-called muscular problems and make yourself comfortable at home instead of living in the so-called bubble in the DFB hotel, which you are not allowed to leave and where you have to sit at separate tables in all seriousness.
On the other hand, young players these days are not adolescents who have to be protected and mothered, and the current national team may be younger than their predecessor model, which was shaped by the old world champions, but a young player like Kai Havertz, 21, has been a professional for five years and knows each other Long ago in the European Cup and in England’s tough league. Top players like Timo Werner, Leroy Sané or Niklas Süle do not need demonstrative care. Bierhoff meant well, but he sent the wrong message.
There are many reasons why the national team’s games are currently not causing much enthusiasm in the audience. One is about the fact that the veteran Löw still has to work hard to regain the charisma he lost at the 2018 World Cup. However, sensitive speech cannot help him.
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