Since falling out of the group at the World Cup in Qatar, the Germans have won only three out of eleven games. During the last national team break, they lost 2:3 against Turkey and 0:2 in Austria. And it is because of the moment from the second encounter that they are currently laughing.
It was the 49th minute, Austria was leading 1-0 and after a foul and the sending off of Leroy Sané, they were preparing for a very long game in numerical superiority. The Germans wanted to equalize at all costs, another defeat was out of the question, so Nagelsmann decided on an unexpected solution. He started whistling and gesticulating at his goalkeeper Trapp to feign injury. He even clearly indicated to him that the problem should be related to the calf muscle.
A strange and not very common scene. “This is grossly unsportsmanlike,” said Austrian ORF television expert and coach or former national team player Roman Mählich. Trapp didn’t understand at first, but then he collapsed on the lawn and asked for treatment. Yes, the goalkeeper does not logically need to be on the sideline at that moment. The Germans got time, they substituted.
“That’s pretty pathetic,” said ORF commentator Thomas König clearly. Julian Brandt jumps onto the pitch, Kai Havertz takes a piece of paper from him with tactical instructions for the next course of the match. From Mählich’s point of view, this is an absurdity that should be punished. “Yes of course. I wouldn’t expect this from the German national team,” he said.
Someone, on the other hand, defends Nagelsmann that this is a quick solution at a time when he needed to change the formation and tell the players what plans they will try not only to defend, but also to erase the thin lead of the Austrians.
It all came to nothing in the end. The Germans fell 0:2, and from a purely sporting point of view, their performances are being criticized one after another. “We lack confidence, which is no surprise when you look at the last few months,” Nagelsmann acknowledges. “We work excellently in training, but unfortunately we cannot transfer it to the field,” added the former Bayern or Leipzig coach.
