Opinion Mission European Championship title
Two risky hardship cases and a VfB block – Nagelsmann shows courage with his squad
Status: 16.05.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
“Structure that is still fragile” – This is Germany’s squad for the European Football Championship
Julian Nagelsmann has announced his squad for the European Football Championship. Four goalkeepers are taking part, one player is still being left out of the squad. Here the national coach explains his decisions and the goal he has set for himself and the team for the tournament.
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At the European Championships, national coach Nagelsmann is relying on a mix of veterans – and many players who are still inexperienced on the big international stage and who have recently played themselves into the shop window. The mix is promising and it brings back good memories.
Since Sunday, the German Football Association (DFB) had been informing bit by bit about the squad for the European Championships and disseminating the first names of players through various channels. On Thursday, Julian Nagelsmann finally finalized it at a press conference.
The roster, which includes a total of 27 players, is not surprising. The coach relies on the professionals, who were responsible for the turnaround in March with two wins against France (2:0) and the Netherlands (2:1). After so many weak performances, the DFB team had once again set an exclamation mark and raised hopes.
Nagelsmann is relying on a mix of veterans at the home tournament – and many players who are still inexperienced on the big international stage and who have recently played themselves into the shop window. The mix is promising – and it brings back a few memories of the 2010 World Cup squad.
Not an empty formula – Nagelsmann applies the performance principle
Before the tournament in South Africa, the then national coach Joachim Löw called up a young team with twelve players who had not been in the squad at Euro 2008 two years earlier and a total of 13 players, none of whom had made ten international appearances at the time. The subtle difference to the situation 14 years later is this: Löw had to Back then, due to injuries – three seeded players, Michael Ballack, René Adler and Heiko Westermann, were out – they relied on some inexperienced players. Nagelsmann, however, does this very consciously with his coaching team.
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That speaks for him – because it is courageous. The coach doesn’t just talk about the performance principle, he also applies it – and, for example, relies on five professionals from VfB Stuttgart. A team that moved into the Champions League after almost being relegated this season. The fact that Nagelsmann does without experienced players like Leon Goretzka (29 years old/57 international matches) and Mats Hummels (35/78) also poses a certain risk. There are two hardships and one risk. The disappointment for both stars is understandably enormous.
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Hummels in particular could have been an important factor in the tournament with his experience. He recently demonstrated in both Champions League semi-finals what quality he still has. BVB kept two clean sheets against PSG with their defense chief, and Hummels also headed the decisive goal in the second leg. But the 2014 world champion could also have been a good support for the many internationally inexperienced players off the pitch.
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However, Julian Nagelsmann decided differently. That has to be respected. But the national coach will now have to be measured by how well those he has chosen will play in the tournament. The coach himself said on Thursday afternoon: Despite the recent successes in the two international matches, the structure is still fragile.
The 2010 World Cup showed that a national team with a large number of young and internationally inexperienced players is capable of great achievements. Germany came in third place. For Manuel Neuer, who was 24 years old at the time, the tournament was the beginning of a great career, as was the case for Sami Khedira. Star coach José Mourinho became aware of the then 23-year-old during the World Cup. He had his agent contact him and steered him to Real Madrid.
