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Joshua Kimmich and Corona: Annoyed, silent, challenged – sport

So far you only know the story up to the middle section, but you can already guess how it will end. There is no doubt about the happy ending; the story draws its tension from the details. How many titles will Joshua Kimmich win before he ends his career? When exactly will he take on the role of captain in the national team and at FC Bayern? How many thousands of motivating WhatsApp messages will he send his teammates by then? How many more reflective interviews will he give, how many foundations will he set up, how many will do good deeds? And Federal President: When will it be?

That was Joshua Kimmich’s future. And now?

On Wednesday evening, FC Bayern announced that Kimmich, 26, had been infected with the corona virus, which triggered a wide variety of reactions in the industry. There were recovery wishes, neutral acknowledgment, and malice too. Ha! It got the Kimmich, the vaccine opponent! In fact, Kimmich turned the Acts of the Apostles upside down, his image transfer from Paul to Saul only lasted a few weeks. Does the story with the happy ending now have to be rewritten? Will this spectacularly sensible Kimmich no longer become a captain after all, whether his fellow players will push away his chat messages in the future?

A crew cabin is a highly sensitive place, it is at least as prone to failure as a German WiFi network. It does not necessarily need specific sporting rivalries to cause seismic tremors there. The question of why a teammate is in the photo with President Erdogan (DFB / 2018) or why someone else does not get vaccinated (FC Bayern / 2021) has at least the same potential to excite a cabin; At Bayern too, they recently heard a certain grumble about those teammates who weaken the team when they have to be quarantined again because they have not been vaccinated.

Little has been heard recently from the functionaries Kahn and Salihamidzic

Insiders say that it wasn’t missing that much, and that the great story of the division of a society into vaccinated and unvaccinated people would have arrived in the crew cabin with a milder course. Two vaccinations (Gnabry, Musiala) and, ironically, two infections (Kimmich, Choupo-Moting) drove the unrest away; Kimmich will now be considered recovered for six months.

Nevertheless, it will be necessary to watch closely what the past few weeks have done to the club. The club understandably did not like the attitude of the vaccination boycotters, conversely, Kimmich felt a bit left alone by the club. He would have wished for words similar to those of the national coach Flick, who clearly advertised for vaccinations, but also took the player under protection (“do not pillory”). A senior Bayern official said it was lucky that Kimmich got his contract before prolonged these debates.

In fact, the excitement about one or the other vaccination status directs one’s gaze directly to the club’s organization chart. In particular, the board members Kahn and Salihamidzic have not been heard much recently, the communicative duties have been almost completely taken over by the rhetorical trainer Nagelsmann. Annoyed, silent, challenged: The 3-G-Bavarians urgently need more public leadership again – and not just public appearances at the annual general meeting.

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