6/6/2022 – 11:21 p.m
He sheds no tears after this time…
Marcel Schmelzer (34) completed 16 international matches for Germany. But the ex-Dortmunder didn’t feel comfortable there. The left-back knew this in a club interview on the BVB-Website.
Schmelzer openly about his time in the DFB: “I was never happy there.”
What he complains about: A bad atmosphere because of the competition and a lack of appreciation from the national coach at the time, Jogi Löw (62).
That’s why he “absolutely” thinks back to his comparatively short career in the national team with a stomach ache.
Schmelzer: “In the national team you are said ‘hello’ in a different way by your competitors than by the other players; the training is also different. I had a hard time with that at first. I felt uncomfortable.”
Which was also due to the lack of support from the coach. Schmelzer: “In addition, Löw said twice publicly that he was forced to work with me.”
The support in the U21s, with which Schmelzer became European champion in 2009, was different. “That was a nice year under Horst Hrubesch, winning the European Championship, that was mega, that was fun.”
Schmelzer was a national player from 2010 to 2014, but was not nominated for the World Cup in Brazil and thus missed out on winning the title. His teammate at the time, Erik Durm (30), drove in his place.
A decision that he could not understand at the time: „Even if the non-nomination was incomprehensible to me at the time, after having played all ten qualifiers, that’s the end of it. As much as that bothered me and as unfair as I thought it was at the time – at some point I had to focus on Borussia Dortmund again.”
There he was later promoted to captain, winning the championship twice and the cup three times. Schmelzer ended his career a few weeks ago due to a protracted knee injury.
