Six games, six wins, 27-1 goals. Although we are already in the colder season, it seems as if Hansi Flick has awakened the national team from hibernation. I am extremely pleased because Hansi and I are still on friendly terms and we only met in Munich last week.
I also know Hansi well enough to know: This historic start makes him particularly happy as a “record collector”! When we had already brought the “five” to Lisbon and it wasn’t clear whether the Club World Cup could be played, he would often stand in my office and say: “Kalle, I want to play there, I want the 6th title! “This ambition will also be good for the German national team.
In Wolfsburg, the World Cup feeling arose again on Thursday when “A cheer for us” was played and the world champions stood in line for Jogi Löw.
It would have been nice if all 23 players who became world champions with him in 2014 in Brazil had done him their honor. You all have to be very grateful to him, and so are the people in this country, the fans have shown that again in the VW Arena.
Jogi Löw is a great exponent of German football, and until 2018 he did an outstanding job. Its difficult end falls more under the name “DFB”, that is where the mistakes are more likely to be found.
Now I feel reminded of the time when Hansi Flick took over at FC Bayern, true to the motto: He came, saw and won! At that time, Hansi Flick electrified everyone immediately and kept driving things like a “water heater”.
What sets him apart are two virtues that I can now also observe at the DFB: He approaches things with a clear plan and does not allow himself to be deterred. And because of his incredible empathy, he is a catcher who can quickly spark a new team spirit.
He didn’t have to change a lot with the nominations, he brought in a few younger talents. But Hansi brought almost all players back to their old level! And that is what it is about!
In the past few years, at the DFB, you could sometimes get the impression that the players perform less well as soon as they put on the national team’s jersey. Leroy Sané, whom Hansi led to a whole new level of strength in a double pass with Julian Nagelsmann, is now representative of the change.
It is also clear: A 9: 0 against the number 190 in the Fifa world rankings should not be overestimated, especially since the opponent was only ten from the 5th minute. But: The German team conveys stability and enjoyment of the game. These are important factors that Hansi brought back.
I’m sure he will bet on the “Bayern axis” for the 2022 World Cup, with Manuel Neuer in goal, Joshua Kimmich in midfield, Thomas Müller on the offensive.
In the course of 2022, this axis will have to prove that it is stable even against strong opponents. We just can’t throw sand in our eyes: the real emergency only occurs when it comes to the greats of world football.
It will be important to develop a feeling in the weeks before the tournament that I call the “Lisbon mode”: Hansi Flick managed to make a conspiratorial bunch out of the troupe in Lisbon in 2020 with FC Bayern in one week of preparation. who rolled through the tournament almost like a machine. Hansi is able to swear in the team in Doha in a very short time and get them ready for top performance.
That will be necessary because in Qatar the opponents and the circumstances will be more difficult. Until then, there is a tight, stressful program on the plan especially for the national players.
After Qatar, the entire football calendar needs to be discussed again and, ideally, rationalized, because one thing is also clear: what the fans want is quality on the pitch and not just more and more games.
In return, I would like Uefa and Fifa to sit down at the same table again, for the benefit of football as a whole.
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