U21 coach Antonio Di Salvo: The man for the replenishment

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Antonio Di Salvo

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The DFB has prepared a very special present for Antonio Di Salvo.

The 42-year-old was born in Paderborn, part of his family still lives there. Di Salvo learned professional football here in the 1990s.

Today he is a coach at the association, recently promoted to head coach of the German U21s.

On October 6th he will be on the sidelines for the first time as the person in charge - and the game against Israel will take place, well, where, in Paderborn.

Of course this is all coincidence. When the location for the game was assigned, Di Salvo was still assistant to Stefan Kuntz at the U21 and had no idea of ​​the promotion at such short notice. But after Kuntz moved from the DFB to the Turkish association as national coach there, the DFB needed quick action, and Di Salvo is self-confident enough to say that he was “not particularly surprised” by his nomination: “For me it was the one next logical step to take over a team as boss, «he said on Friday in a press session on the occasion of his official introduction

You see it very similarly at the DFB.

Joti Chatzialexiou, the sporting director of the national teams at the DFB, is almost overwhelmed with praise when he describes the qualities of the new U21 coach: "After all, we don't just want to develop players, but also coaches." At Di Salvo, they are obviously well on their way came.

He is “an analytical, meticulous worker”, his opponent analyzes are “outstanding”, he has “generated a lot of knowledge” through observation and further training - and what is also important: As Kuntz's assistant, he has been able to continue wherever he has been since 2016 Predecessor has stopped.

Kuntz »just looked in the eye«

With the successes of the U21s, who made it into the European Championship finals three times under Kuntz, “there was always a lot of Di Salvo in it”, after all, we always acted as a team, “Stefan and I often just had to look each other in the eye and we knew each other : We think the same thing, «says the former professional who, in addition to Paderborn, also played for Bayern Munich, Hansa Rostock and 1860 Munich. "I sure have my own way of addressing, but the big picture will be the same as before."

Why also change a successful model? With the exception of Kuntz, the entire U21 coaching team will remain: That means: Assistant David Niedzkowski is now available to Di Salvo with advice and action, goalkeeping coach remains St. Pauli icon Klaus Thomforde, and Jannis Scheibe continues his work as an analyst. Kuntz would have liked to take all four to Turkey, Chatzialexiou revealed. That says a lot about their appreciation. But while the DFB let Kuntz go in order not to block his chance in Turkey, the association insisted on the whereabouts of the team.

A team that, with Hermann Gerland, is given a special additional note.

The long-time Bayern assistant has had a knack for working with young players for decades. "We would be stupid if you didn't take advantage of this outstanding experience in the youth field," said Chatzialexiou.

Lured by the new national coach Hansi Flick to the DFB as a scout for the national team, the 67-year-old will now devote himself entirely to his job in the underground area.

For the dress rehearsal for the national team

This redeployment is also a signal of the upgrading that the U21s have won under Kuntz and now under the new national coach Flick. “The transition to the senior team, that's basically our job,” says Chatzialexiou. Flick's predecessor Joachim Löw had largely lost contact with his own offspring in recent years. The U21 European champions of 2009 once formed the framework of the later Löw-Elf, Manuel Neuer, Mesut Özil, Jérôme Boateng, Benedikt Höwedes, Sami Khedira.

To come back there, to make the U21 the hinge, to the dress rehearsal for the national team, that is one of the association's highest goals for the future. Flick sees it the same way, he himself promoted Di Salvo from the U19 to the U21 coaching staff in 2016, "since then we've been in constant contact," says the coach. With David Raum, Ridle Baku, Florian Witz, Nico Schlotterbeck and Karim Adeyemi, five U21 European champions have already advanced to the first international matches of the new national coach. This is how it should always be in the future.

Things are in motion at the DFB, at least when it comes to sporting development.

When Di Salvo describes the approach of "letting players work more individually" from the youngest age, "sending them in 1: 1 situations at a very early age, training them in dribbling", then you have an inkling of what will be possible in the future - and what has been neglected in the past.

Football is being played more at the DFB again.

The coach Antonio Di Salvo, once not always filigree himself as a striker, is responsible for this.