Football After a draw against Mexico
The pitch-black evening of Niklas Süle
Status: 19.10.2023 | Reading time: 5 minutes
“I know we will be successful”
The German national team drew against Mexico in their second game under Julian Nagelsmann. Despite the missed victory, the new national coach is optimistic that the DFB team is on the right track.
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The German national team’s defense is still a long way from being in acceptable European Championship form against Mexico. This particularly applies to Niklas Süle. National coach Nagelsmann defended him courageously after the end of the game.
Julian Nagelsmann apparently spent a week working with the German national team to draw an almost euphoric conclusion at the end of the trip to America. He said his players had a steep learning curve. “I have never coached a team that can do so many things in a week. I was very enthusiastic. That’s why I’m absolutely not worried,” said the national coach after the 2-2 draw against Mexico on Wednesday night German time in Philadelphia. The 36-year-old sees his team on a very good path towards the home European Championship. “I am 100 percent convinced that we will be successful,” said Nagelsmann.
And this despite the fact that old weaknesses and inadequacies were again to be complained about. Defensively, the German national team urgently needs to stabilize itself and act more accurately if it doesn’t want to risk an early exit from a major tournament again next summer. “The central defenders have to improve defensively against the ball and with the ball, otherwise we have no chance at the European Championships,” said ARD expert Bastian Schweinsteiger.
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The performance at Lincoln Financial Field against aggressive Mexicans had of course also revealed deficits to the national coach. “We did things okay, we didn’t do things so well,” Nagelsmann said. The defensive work undoubtedly remains a construction site. “We will need defensive stability in the summer when we play a tournament. We have to train that,” he said after his second game as national coach. His team had to make up for a deficit in both the 3-1 win against the USA and Mexico.
Strikers are too often in the gaps, complains Nagelsmann
Nagelsmann wanted to “test couples” against Mexico, as he outlined before kick-off. In addition to the central defenders Tah and Rüdiger, Niklas Süle joined the team. The central defender from Borussia Dortmund played on the right in the back four of the defense, while Robin Gosens played on the left. But all four showed partly mediocre and partly weak performances.
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“Overall, we still have to work on ensuring that a lot of long balls into our chain don’t become so dangerous in many situations,” admitted Nagelsmann: “Those weren’t any extraordinary moves by Mexico, but often very straight passes into the depths. We need a good bond. Overall, the strikers are too often in our gaps. But that was already the case against the USA two or three times. Offensively it’s working quite well, defensively we have a few things that we need to adjust.”
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Süle in particular looked bad and was substituted in the 59th minute. Before the score was 1-1, the 28-year-old first let Lozano play around him and then dance him out on the outside of the penalty area and was unable to prevent the sharp assist. And he also lost the duel against goalscorer Sanchez before conceding the second goal. A black day for him. Undoubtedly not one he could recommend himself to. The national team and him, the bottom line is that it remains an underwhelming chapter. On the contrary.
But Nagelsmann didn’t want to accept that when he was asked about it. “I’m protecting Niklas. He doesn’t have much rhythm, I’ve given him that now. I think he only played 70 minutes in the last three or four games in Dortmund,” he said and even attested to Süle’s rosy outlook when it comes to the national team: “It’s just the case that we already see this player as very strong assess that he needs rhythm and that’s why we decided to take him with us, even if he’s not currently a regular player at the club. To ensure that he continues to hear the content, that he knows that we are already planning with him. He knows what things he needs to work on. He generally brings everything with him and will hopefully play a more important role in the club again.”
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In seven league games so far, Süle has appeared on the pitch five times for Dortmund for a total of 251 minutes. He was only allowed to start in two games and was substituted on three times. In Nagelsmann’s debut against the USA, Süle also only came off the bench.
That’s why ARD expert Bastian Schweinsteiger had problems with Nagelsmann’s argument. “The fact that you take players with you and give them rhythm to the national team sounds a bit strange at first, I think,” he said. Of course, Nagelsmann has known Süle “since his time at Hoffenheim, including at Bayern Munich, and has always supported him. He’s doing that now with the national team, and you can tell. But of course he also recognizes whether someone makes mistakes or not. And that’s how he evaluates it. At the end of the day, he has to find the team, the players, that he can rely on. This is very important in a tournament. And that’s his job as national coach.”
Until the next test matches against Turkey on November 18th in Berlin and three days later in Vienna against Austria, Nagelsmann wants to send his players video scenes and discuss them. In the end, said Nagelsmann, it is important “that we have the peak performance at the tournament. Otherwise we should be able to win the two games in November and win the two games in March because it is simply important to create an atmosphere that we want as a team. By that I don’t mean outside, but that everyone in the dressing room comes and says: ‘It’s fun to play, I want to win with this team’.”
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