My favorite innovation in the football year of 2025 does not come from a tactics laboratory, but from Cameroon. In preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations, the country had two national teams for some time. Two national coaches. Two squads. A real dual leadership. One used by the Ministry of Sports, the other by the association.
It was not a tactical experiment, but an administrative drama: ministry against association, two lists, two responsibilities – and the championship in Morocco is just around the corner. In the end, the association won and Cameroon traveled to the tournament with its team. You can call the story chaos. Or inspiration. There are enough parallel worlds in football. Parallel teams too. Rotation, tactical formation, load control. And if you’re honest, it’s difficult to seriously name the differences.
This text comes from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
Whether Neuer is in goal, Baumann or Ter Stegen – there are of course a few differences. But in the end? One person holds, one fails – and the next day it’s the other way around. This is called daily form. There is something for every coach in defense. Rüdiger. Schlotterbeck. Tah. One with more presence, the others with more order. Goals are still conceded. Or not. You’re always wiser afterwards.
But why not Matthias Ginter? Reliable. In the midfield there is a lot of the same thing with small differences. Wirtz works magic on good days, and so does Musiala. Pavlovic works. Goretzka too. Big orders. More quietly structured. Someone is always running. Someone is always postponing. And afterwards someone is missing exactly what the other person would have had. Then it says: The balance wasn’t right. Like so often in life.
The difference lies in the details
It finally doesn’t matter at the front. Woltemade, Kleindienst, Füllkrug, Undav, Burkardt, Havertz. Six guys, one promise: Whoever plays will work, will start, will get involved, will score. Perhaps. Maybe not. The difference lies in the details. One is considered hope. The next one as a transition. The third as robust. The fourth as smart. The fifth as the future. The sixth as brilliant.
At some point you ask yourself: Does it really matter who is doing gymnastics in front? Or just that someone does it? And there are many. Why not Max Kruse? Does anyone seriously think he would score fewer goals than Woltemade at the World Cup in the States? And Kruse, a big advantage, is versatile: During a stopover in Las Vegas, he could quickly top up the team’s coffers while playing poker. Full House! The mood in the team shouldn’t be underestimated either.
So let’s follow the Cameroonian example. Let’s set up a parallel national team. Nagelsmann, the national coach, calls up his squad, and Mario Basler sets up his. Basler, previously a center forward in Sport1’s “Doppelpass” regulars’ table, would be a wonderful alternative to the official national coach. Nagelsmann works on tactics between his laptop, magnetic board and thought loop that are worthy of a Nobel Prize. Shifts, half spaces, residual defense, pressing zones.
Basler sips the glass, greets Franz and says: Men, let’s go out and play football! That’s the whole difference. Complexity here, short circuit there. What ignites? Havertz here, Kruse there. Here a chain of three, a chain of four, a chain of five – there a gold chain. One country, two squads. And in the spring there will be an elimination game with an audience rating of millions. That would be something! And whoever wins goes to the World Cup.
