Clock's Ticking: Nagelsmann Battles for DFB Redemption at the Crucible of Stuttgart
Struggling for his DFB club at the destination: Nagelsmann's battle
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With the FIFA World Cup looming nearby, head coach Julian Nagelsmann is left with little time to tackle pressing issues. The match against France takes on renewed significance.
Echoes of his past resound as Nagelsmann returns to the very place where he witnessed a bitter defeat. In the press room of the Stuttgart football arena, he sits, bringing along Pascal Groß with him. It has been close to eleven months since Nagelsmann sat in this room, on the 5th of July, 2024. Then, the German national team lost dramatically against Spain in Stuttgart, ending in a heartbreaking 1:2 after extra time. Toni Kroos' career and the dream of the title went up in smoke.
As Nagelsmann reflects on the past, he now speaks of the upcoming Nations League third-place match (3 PM/RTL, DAZN, and in the ntv.de live ticker) and the formidable French football team. They possess ten central defenders who perform consistently at a top level. It's a "brutal performance density," confesses Nagelsmann. The skill trickles from the youth teams all the way to the A national team.
Already Making Progress
Sure, the neighbor's lawn may seem greener. But a closer look reveals that the search in one's own garden is a bit more modest. Nagelsmann reluctantly doesn't view the many absences in the German team as an excuse before the Nations League final tournament, but they do limit his available options for the squad. The list of injured players would fill a significant portion of a first-choice starting lineup. These include Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz, Antonio Rüdiger, Angelo Stiller, Nico Schlotterbeck, Tim Kleindienst, and Yann Aurel Bisseck.
As a result, the German team currently can only dream of French conditions. Nagelsmann acknowledges, "We have no central defenders who can run 36 kilometers per hour." Since Nagelsmann possesses supernatural powers but not magic, no exceptional athletes will inexplicably appear before kickoff. Instead, Nagelsmann must adjust the team's playing style, striving to prevent the French team's "free feet" - as he calls them - from even getting a chance.
Flexibility in managing scarcity is not an unfamiliar skill to Nagelsmann. He has already demonstrated the ability to revive the national team and guide them to the quarterfinals of the European Championship in his home country. Yet, the question remains: Is the current lineup capable of executing his ideas and vision?
Unanswered Questions
It's that speech from almost a year ago that echoes through Nagelsmann's mind. The World Cup title that he is determined to win. Progress has been made. He has managed to maintain the self-confidence that he and the team's entourage have emphasized repeatedly. It's a remnant of the home European Championship - a sense of self-assuredness that had been buried beneath the ruins of crisis years. But Nagelsmann himself admitted it. "Self-confidence and self-belief are both very fragile elements that need to be cultivated and carefully tended to,' he stated last week. The matches in the Nations League thus far have shown how quickly new self-confidence can be eroded. For example, in sloppy play: Nagelsmann made two blunders during the march against Italy last year and again against Portugal, causing disruptive substitutions each time.
While these errors can be interpreted as a misstep by Nagelsmann, there lies a more fundamental issue beneath the surface. The DFB team lacks a wealth of world-class talents to draw upon. This underscores the difference between the top nations: Portugal could still bring on Champions League winner Vitinha and wing dynamo Francisco Conceicão in the semi-finals, both of whom significantly influenced the game. France can also compensate when Ousmane Dembélé has to leave early. The DFB team currently finds itself in a difficult position.
But it's not just that; there are also queries concerning the coaching team. Assistant Sandro Wagner has decided to leave after 23 games, becoming the head coach of FC Augsburg himself. Though Wagner remained loyal to Nagelsmann, he remained in the background and did not express his opinions publicly. The players appreciated him. A new face will join Nagelsmann as Benjamin Hübner, a Nagelsmann confidant and his former captain from Hoffenheim, steps in.
Before we look ahead, we must first address the present - the match against France. A battle for third place just before the holidays? It practically screams motivation issues. But Nagelsmann is unfazed. "It's still the German football A national team," he asserts at the Stuttgart Arena: "If I always have to motivate them in the locker room, then I need to change something in the squad. It's football. It's something beautiful that we do. Nobody has to dig a field by hand. It's a great job that we do, something beautiful."
A lopsided loss could see the DFB team depart for the summer with contentious discussions. And who wants that?
The community policy within the German national team, under Nagelsmann's leadership, is undergoing adaptation to cater to the current circumstances of numerous player absences. While the employment policy of the team seems to be in a state of flux, Nagelsmann's love for football remains unwavering as he prepares for the impending Nations League third-place match against France. In the midst of this, Nagelsmann eagerly anticipates the high-level sporting prowess of the French team, particularly their exceptional central defenders, on the football field.
