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World Cup analysis: Flick and the players felt left alone

Khe took almost an hour on Thursday afternoon. There was a lot to talk about after two important decisions in German football had been made the day before. A crisis summit first revealed that Hansi Flick would fulfill his contract until 2024 and remain national coach, before it became public at the end of a supervisory board meeting of the German Football League (DFL) that the DFL would part ways with its boss Donata Hopfen. The 46-year-old only took over the post on January 1st.

Now that one night had passed, the head of the supervisory board, Hans-Joachim Watzke, was sitting in the DFL headquarters and, at the beginning of the press conference, expressed his regret about the departure of hops. Axel Hellmann from Eintracht Frankfurt and Oliver Leki from SC Freiburg, Watzke announced, will temporarily hold the office of hops as a double head until June 30, 2023. It is said that insurmountable differences led to the 46-year-old leaving the club prematurely.

A replacement, emphasized Watzke, was never an issue in the Hansi Flick case despite the World Cup debacle – the German national team had also been eliminated in Qatar in the preliminary round after 2018 in Russia. Watzke sat down with Flick and Bernd Neuendorf, the president of the German Football Association (DFB), on Wednesday afternoon at the Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch in Frankfurt before he went to the DFL supervisory board meeting. “A seperation (by Flick, d. R) was not up for discussion at all,” said Watzke. When he, who is also DFB vice-president and managing director of Borussia Dortmund, spoke to the media on Thursday, Flick was sitting in the car on the way from Frankfurt to his home town of Bammental in Württemberg.

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Watzke spoke of “a constructive discussion based on a lot of trust”. A conversation in which there were also different opinions, but from which he would draw strength. Flick’s statement brought the wrong tongue into the debate, according to Watzke. The national coach reacted disappointedly to the resignation of DFB director Oliver Bierhoff and said that he and his coach would find it difficult to imagine “how the gap created by Oliver’s departure can be closed professionally and personally”. Watzke now said: “It was never about a separation. It was about what was good at the World Cup and what was bad. We have decided that we will all pull together.”

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The 63-year-old also let it be known that it was agreed to change certain things. What exactly he meant by that, Watzke left open. But both sides – those responsible at the DFB and the sporting management – are aware that “business as usual” should not be allowed to continue.

Too many Bavarians?

As far as the behavior of those responsible is concerned, the coaches and players in Qatar would have liked more support for the captain’s armband debate. It is said that they felt left alone when the discussion suddenly overshadowed the preparation for the first World Cup game against Japan. Not to mention that the issue should have been clarified before the tournament.

As far as the upcoming tournament, i.e. the EM 2024 is concerned, Flick and his assistants know that they have to form a team that is well coordinated and competitive. This requires smart decisions, but also a sure instinct. It is only logical that the Bavarians, who Flick trained himself and with whom he has won six titles in one season, have had many national players for decades because of their sporting strength. But fans, experts and fellow players are bothered if they get the impression that they have a free ticket. In the last group game against Costa Rica, Flick trusted a Bayern block of seven players in the starting XI, four of whom (Sané, Musiala, Gnabry and Müller) provided the offensive. Niklas Füllkrug, who recommended himself for the starting XI with his goal against Spain, initially sat outside.

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Joshua Kimmich (left) and Thomas Müller were two of seven FC Bayern professionals in the DFB squad at the World Cup in Qatar

The national coach knows that he has to find a good balance. Harmony is a very important factor for him, which is why he allowed the players’ girlfriends, wives and children, if they were in Doha, to spend the night in the team quarters around the first two games. Flick also wanted to promote the mood within the team. But after the 1-2 draw against Japan, that was not well received by the public. It brought back memories of the 2008 European Championships, when the DFB allowed the players’ wives access to the team’s quarters after the 2-1 loss in the second group match against Croatia. That caused dissatisfaction with some players at the time, because after the bankruptcy it was more about family than football.

Fredi Bobic is the top candidate

Flick and his teammates have until the end of March 2023, when the next international period is due, to reconsider and change certain things. “We missed a great opportunity in Qatar. We will learn our lessons from that,” he was quoted as saying in a DFB announcement. Oliver Bierhoff, who was in office for almost 18 years until Monday, will in future observe the work of the national team from afar. In 2004 he started as a team manager. It is still unclear who will support the national coach in the future as a manager or possibly as the new sports director.

Hansi Flick is now preparing Germany for the 2024 home European Championship

Hansi Flick is now preparing Germany for the 2024 home European Championship

Source: Alex Kraus

The name of Fredi Bobic, Managing Director Sport at Hertha BSC, who is considered a serious candidate, was not mentioned on Thursday. As far as this personnel issue is concerned, Hans-Joachim Watzke believes that there is no need for a rush job, even if he would find a “solution before Christmas nice”. “Accuracy comes before speed,” said Watzke, referring to DFB President Neuendorf, who now has to think about it with his colleagues. He’d be happy to give his advice.

It remains to be seen whether the “vacuum” that Bierhoff leaves behind after his retirement will be closed by one or two people, Watzke added and reported on several phone calls he had made in the past few days. With Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, among others, with Oliver Kahn. The exchange, said Watzke, is important to him. Especially these days when there is a lot to do in German football.

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