The reserved appearance of Niclas Füllkrug
Müller and Füllkrug on the match plan against Costa Rica
Niclas Füllkrug’s goal against Spain keeps Germany’s hopes of reaching the round of 16. Thomas Müller and Niclas Füllkrug explain what the match plan against Costa Rica looks like. Watch the press conference in full here.
Nical’s jug saved the national team a draw against Spain with his goal. After the strong performance he would have every reason to be self-confident. But before the decisive game against Costa Rica, he is extremely cautious.
EHe doesn’t always cheer like that, only every now and then when he feels like it. Last Sunday, when he scored the all-important 1-1 draw against Spain in the second round of the World Cup, he didn’t feel like it. Then Niclas Füllkrug turned away relatively emotionlessly before the other players came running and hugged him. Him, the striker from Werder Bremen, who in Bundesliga games sometimes shows the biceps of his left arm after a goal he has scored and points to it with his right index finger. True to the motto: I’m in a good mood, I’ve got the power, I can do it!
When Füllkrug was sitting in the media center of the German Football Association (DFB) in northern Qatar on Tuesday afternoon, he was asked about just that “biceps rejoicing”. A question from the auditorium was whether he would perhaps show it, should he score again in the tournament. Thomas Müller, who was sitting to his left, looked at the 29-year-old’s left arm and then pushed up the sleeve of Füllkrug’s T-shirt a little. “You have a nice thing there,” said Müller – and had the laughs on his side. Also that of Niclas Füllkrug, who said he wasn’t “the big cheerer”.
Niclas Füllkrug (right) and Thomas Müller clearly had fun at the press conference
Those: dpa/Federico Gambarini
As present as the striker was two days ago when he scored the goal with great force in the 83rd minute – or as Müller put it, “welded the ball into the corner” – he was just as reserved on Tuesday. He sat there very subdued, calm in himself. In complete contrast to his seat neighbor – Thomas Müller, the extroverted 120-time national player. Quick-witted, open, always ready for a saying. “Radio Müller” they call him at FC Bayern. He likes to talk a lot, on and off the pitch.
“Everyone is extremely happy for me”
Füllkrug, Müller – there were two from the DFB camp on Tuesday who were in good spirits, who valued each other and complemented each other well in the media circle.
At the beginning, Müller had a bit more of a speech, which Füllkrug used to let his eyes wander, to direct the microphone in front of him or his hair. “Everyone is extremely happy for me,” he said. Also at Werder Bremen, his employer, who, as he said, would see the whole thing here a little critically. “It’s a club that makes its position pretty clear,” said Füllkrug, letting it be known that he’d received a lot of messages “from my boys, the coaching staff and friends.”
