The local newspaper starts the series "The Merkur CUP and its big names".
The prelude is ex-professional Sandro Wagner, who won the CUP with Bayern in 1998.
District
- Since 2017 at the latest, the football-loving republic has known that Sandro Wagner is a child of the Merkur CUP. When asked in a television interview shortly before the 2017 Confed Cup, he replied: “For me this is a great event and an honor to be able to play for my country. Regardless of whether it's the Confed Cup, Merkur CUP or whatever! ”After 180 Bundesliga games and 18 months with Tianjin Teda from the 14 million metropolis in northern China, Wagner ended his involvement in China under coach Uli Stielike in the country's top division due to the corona , the Chinese Super League, last summer.
The weather, the green lawn, this small field, the cheering scenes. Images that Sandro Wagner can still literally feel today. “I can't remember a tournament in my youth up to the U21 European Championship 2009 that left such a formative impression as the Merkur CUP. I can't really put it into words, these are just great feelings - there are tons of pictures rushing through my head. ”No other tournament has such memories as this Merkur CUP with its final on July 18, 1998 in Geretsried, the Final location of the fourth edition of the Merkur CUP. “That was just something special,” enthuses Wagner and smiles full of pride all over his face.FC Bayern Munich won the CUP on that day with Sandro Wagner under youth coach Friedrich Bopp and received the "pot" from the hands of the then Prime Minister and Merkur CUP patron Edmund Stoiber. "I saw Stoiber again a few months ago at the Sport1 one-two."
Childhood shaped him
Wagner has been closely associated with FC Bayern since he was born. As a child, he played football for a year at Hertha Munich, from where the door to the Bayern youth team was quickly thrown open after an indoor tournament in Milbertshofen. He scored both goals in Hertha’s 2-0 win over his favorite club. “When I was eight or nine years old, I went to Bayern.” At the time, Sendling was his home. “It's good to know where you're from. That shapes, ”says Wagner. The 33-year-old lived there with his older brother Sascha and his parents (“Unfortunately, you had to work a lot”), “and my grandma always accompanied me to training and picked me up. Back then, you weren't allowed to drive in public alone. ”Later, at the age of eleven or twelve, the working-class family moved to Giesing's heights.“We lived right on Grünwalder Straße, and I always hung the Bayern flag out in Untergiesing when FCB won their home game - especially since I knew that most Bayern players drove from Säbener to Grünwald via Grünwalder Straße. Then I let the flag hang for two to three days. ”He slept in Bavarian bedclothes, had posters on the walls and when he was on vacation in Italy, he always had his Bavarian swimming trunks with him. "Yeah, I was crazy."had posters on the walls and always had Bayern bathing trunks with me when I was on vacation in Italy. "Yeah, I was crazy."had posters on the walls and always had Bayern bathing trunks with me when I was on vacation in Italy. "Yeah, I was crazy."
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Affair of the heart: Sandro Wagner played eleven years in the youth team of FC Bayern Munich and made a total of 29 Bundesliga games for the Reds.
© MM
Hermann Hummels, the father of Mats and Jonas Hummels, believed in him at an early age, otherwise Sandro Wagner had to work out a lot himself.
“I had good coaches, but hardly anyone who really pushed me personally.
From day one on, I worked most of it myself.
Otherwise there are youth players whose coaches or clubs say: This is our man, we are building him up.
That wasn't the case for me, I was probably not good enough for that at the time either.
“No, no one was frustrated.
I knew this was my way. "
But it wasn't easy then. Such a time shapes a young person. “So I'm not afraid of anything today. Many people are afraid of losing everything. I don't know that feeling - because in the past I hardly had anything that I could lose. ”Sandro Wagner never had any idols either. He likes some people very much, including well-known personalities. “But I had no role models in the true sense of the word and I never had the feeling that I wanted to be like others. I always wanted to go my own way and have always believed in myself. ”Does arrogance get through here? No, that is simply a mark of his life. He has always been a type of open and clear words, not adapted and not ironed out.
Anyone who thinks that Sandro Wagner has changed now that he is no longer active as a player is punishing the lie.
“I'm on the pitch, on the green lawn, differently than outside.
They are two different worlds that I cannot explain exactly either.
I've always tried to get the most out of myself and the team.
My way of playing was emotional, sometimes in the gray area or a bit above it.
Outside, however, I was always a different person.
Only the people wanted or couldn't know. "
Honesty is one of the most important attributes for Sandro Wagner
The future coach of Unterhachinger U 19 is currently making a name for himself as a co-commentator on DAZN and is showered with praise. He just speaks straight out, without frills and fussing around. This is certainly due to a childhood pattern, honesty is one of the most important attributes for Sandro Wagner. In addition there is the warmth. He finds both in his family, with his wife Denise, with whom he has been together since he was 16, and his four children Luca-Marie, Hugo, Bruno and baby Alma.
As he talks about it, he is leafing through the book of values of Mercury CUP. “Children can never learn what true values are early enough.” These children have been locked away for a year now. Excluded from the football field or training area. Excluded from what they do with devotion in their free time: playing football. The Merkur CUP had to be canceled this year after 2020 due to corona. “Yes, the topic is complex,” emphasizes Wagner, twisting his mouth. He looks very thoughtful. This topic quickly becomes political. Do you have to be loud? Yes, you have to. Does that bring anything? No, he don't think so. Nevertheless: “If everyone has the attitude that debates do not help, that is bad.” If nobody says anything or everyone has the attitude that opening their mouths does not help, many things would go wrong.You have to be loud.
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With the German national team, Sandro Wagner won the Confederations Cup in Russia in 2017.
He resigned on May 16, 2018.
© MM
A few weeks ago, Felix Neureuther clearly expressed his opinion, especially on dealing with the children, and criticized the fact that they could not do sports, not even in the open air.
Sandro Wagner takes a sip from the espresso cup, greets Haching's President and Merkur CUP patron Manni Schwabl - and goes one better: “The children have now had to back off for over a year and have suffered enough.
We have already stolen too much valuable time from them in their child development. ”And further:“ You make it too easy for yourself to forbid everything. ”Pause.
Silence, almost embarrassed silence.
Sandro Wagner: "If you think too much, you lose the fun."
Then it comes back to the future and what he, Sandro Wagner, would like to give to the children who would like to become professionals one day. “Fun and hard work, these are requirements that the kids should bring along. Assuming a certain talent. ”But the hint to the adults is not hidden here either:“ Fewer people should have a say with the children. If you think too much, you lose the fun. Motivation is not the millions you might be able to earn, but the fun of the game. You must never lose it on the journey. "
Sandro Wagner rummages through the old final photos from 1998. You can literally see how his pictures are created when he looks at the first color photos and suddenly notices: “I didn't even know that I broke my arm back then.” The names He shakes his former teammates like nothing out of his sleeve.
There is no trace of the fact that the tournament was 23 years ago and that Wagner, the newly minted Merkur CUP ambassador, is on the way to being a successful Bundesliga coach on the sidelines for the next seven or eight years.
That is his stated goal.
Nobody doubts that he will make it.
Because he believes in himself.
Also read:
VfB Hallbergmoos sign ex-U19 Bundesliga players
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