AWhen Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens stormed into the box when one crossed and the other lurked as the ball sailed through the air from right to left, when one gawked and the other headed, when one jumped and the other slid When what happened in almost three years was achieved in barely more than three seconds, you could see and feel: So football can still be so thrilling in the national team.
On Saturday evening, right-winger Kimmich and left-winger Gosens performed a little trick on the stage of the European championship. It was the fourth German goal in an exciting group game in Munich that ended in a 4-2 win over Portugal. Above all, however, it was the German goal that Joachim Löw has probably been hoping for since the World Cup in summer 2018.
In the international matches that followed, the national coach repeatedly experimented with the three or five-man chain. As well as on this evening – and especially in this cross-header-goal representation – she has never performed. And although everything is still possible from the first to the last group seat before the duel with Hungary on Wednesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship, on ZDF and on MagentaTV), one thing seems impossible: that Löw will voluntarily change something in his lineup .
Where does Kimmich help most?
There has been a lot of discussion since the 1-0 defeat against France in the first European Championship match whether the idea that Löw developed for his last tournament is really a good one. One point of contention: In which position does Joshua Kimmich help the team the most? On the evening before the Portugal game, he himself argued again in a press conference why he actually wanted a place in midfield.
He said that you feel “more involved” than on the right-hand side, where “the game supposedly takes place apart from yourself and you are supposedly without a mission”. Are Kimmich’s skills wasted on the outside? Many thought so. Then he crossed to Gosens.
In the language kit for football reports there is a technical term that could not be used in texts about the German national team for so long that you have to dust it off before writing. Here it is: wing pliers. According to Wikipedia, this is the name given to two outside players who “work together to put pressure on the opposing defense”.
Maybe you should now link a highlight video by Gosens and Kimmich from the Portugal game in the Wikipedia article. Before the 1: 1 (own goal by Rúben Dias, 35th minute) Kimmich crossed the ball from right to left, where Gosens passed it in the middle. Before the 2: 1 (own goal by Raphaël Guerreiro, 39th) Kimmich fit into the middle. Before the 3: 1 (Kai Havertz, 51st) Gosens again fit into the middle. And the 4: 1 (60th) was a case of: gripped.
On Saturday evening, when Gosens and Kimmich had already disappeared into the dressing room, Joachim Löw was asked to rate their performance at the press conference. He used this to present his plan for the win again: “It was our request that we have to create more danger, especially through the outer positions. We knew about Portugal’s defensive weaknesses. Both deliberately played higher than against France, so we often got behind the defense and were dangerous overall. Both of them did a really good job – in preparing for the goal, and Robin in the end too. “
It is an unequal duo that drove the German team on Saturday. On the one hand Joshua Kimmich, the Champions League winner, the careerist. On the other hand, Robin Gosens, who has never been trained in a youth training center and has played for Atalanta Bergamo in Italy for four years. He’s not a star in his team, but a star in his role.
“It’s one of my strengths that I can lurk at the second post, make a hut,” he said on Saturday in an ARD camera. When Gosens gives an interview, the volume should be turned up. He’s always so happy that he’s allowed to play in the national team. When the reporter reminded him, Gosens replied: “You can tweak me, even then I don’t believe it.”
The pictures of the European Championship game
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This time Portugal make the own goals
On the lawn in Munich there was also a man who pinched everyone who had raved about the spectacle, at least with his words. Sure, said Thomas Müller, who had played splendidly himself, you had more fun on the offensive. “However, to be honest, you have to say that the French can simply defend better. That is why the services cannot be placed side by side. It was a tad easier for us today. “
There are good reasons why 4: 2, as thrilling as it may have been, shouldn’t be overestimated. On the one hand, the goals conceded by Cristiano Ronaldo and Diogo Jota (15th and 67th minute) were again made possible by a general inattention in the German defense. On the other hand, Portuguese defenders were sometimes even more careless. On Wednesday, that is not a bold forecast, the Hungarians will put up more resistance.
Then Gosens should also be able to play again, even if he was replaced after his goal due to adductor pain (like the ailing Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gündogan, by the way). “Robin did it really well,” said Müller, and then couldn’t resist a Thomas Müller gag: “Only 60 minutes, you have to say that. Well, he’s playing in Italy. “But that evening Gosens even had an answer:” Better a good 60 than a bad 90. “
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