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Serge Gnabry should be an important support in the attack of the national team at the World Cup
Photo:
ULMER / imago images/ULMER press photo agency
What you shouldn't expect from the national coach Hansi Flick: that his press rounds are entertainment events, that he speaks pithy sentences that stick in the memory, that he sweeps the public away with his speech.
What you can definitely expect from him: persistent optimization of his team, meticulous implementation of his plan.
A steady-hand policy was once propagated by a former Federal Chancellor, who is currently not necessarily considered to be capable of being quoted or satisfactorily.
But Flick is doing exactly what Gerhard Schröder did back then.
Since he has been national coach, politics has been a steady hand.
That will not change in the World Cup year 2022 either, Flick made that more than clear in a digital media round on Friday.
The squad he called up for the first internationals of the year against Israel in Sinsheim and against the Netherlands in Amsterdam is something of a mirror of the Flickian kind.
A »mix of trying out and importing«
A bit of innovation, a bit of experimentation, without jeopardizing the tried and tested.
"We have to achieve good stability," says Flick as the goal for the year, and the DFB squad looks accordingly: stable.
It's a "mix of trying things out and getting used to them," says the national coach.
With the newcomer Anton Stach and the returnee Julian Weigl, there are also names that you would not necessarily have expected in advance.
But Flick is not overturning any concept, most of the candidates in his squad of 23 for the Qatar World Cup have already been determined.
At Mainzer Stach, Flick just wants to “see what potential he offers us”, the ex-Dortmunder Weigl, under contract with Champions League quarter-finalists Benfica Lisbon, “should get another chance with us”.
That still sounds very reserved, the two shouldn't be thinking about World Cup places yet.
Hope for Wirtz
In fact, there are a few personnel gaps to be filled in this national team week, and one or the other has also benefited from this: Jonas Hofmann from Gladbach, who has played in all games with Flick so far, is missing after a muscle fiber tear, and the same applies to Niklas Süle.
Leon Goretzka, Robin Gosens and Marco Reus are not yet far enough injured that Flick would call them up.
After all, the national coach's mantra is: »All players must be in top shape.« There is no place for convalescents in the team if you really want to become world champions.
That's Flick's announcement.
An announcement for which he would probably make no exception even with the super talent Florian Wirtz.
The 18-year-old tore his cruciate ligament last weekend, but that doesn't rule out a World Cup participation.
Flick recalled 2014, when he and his boss Joachim Löw Sami Khedira left the door to the World Cup in Brazil open to the end.
Khedira came back with pinpoint accuracy from a cruciate ligament tear and was one of those who carried Germany through the tournament.
»And the Sami even had a month less time than Florian today.«
Elected the Federal President
It's been four months since the last international match, Flick has had a lot of time to think since then, he's been seen in numerous stadiums, held many discussions, and in between he even voted for the Federal President as CDU emissary in the Federal Assembly.
Now it will be seen how well he used the time.
"The check takes place in the game," says Flick.
The national team has played seven games under the new national coach, they have won all of them, and the team looks more solid in sport.
The mildew of the late Löw years has blown away for now, there are other problems that Flick has to deal with.
The pandemic is still here, but the world situation is even darker, covering everything and casting its shadow to every corner of society.
A solved World Cup preparation in times of war?
Not possible.
"It's difficult to sit here, it hurts to see the pictures from Ukraine," says Flick.
He says what football usually says when times are bleak: "We hope to bring a bit of variety, fun and joy with the international matches."
Concentrate on sports
The confrontation with the subject of Russia brings with it a further burden for the already highly controversial Qatar World Cup.
Russia was the host of the last World Cup;
many are now saying that the tournament should never have been awarded to the country, Fifa has banned Russia from all competitions - and it's on to the next organizer, who is being denounced by human rights organizations.
The national coach has always tried to free himself from it as much as possible, to concentrate on the sporting side.
However, it is also clear that he is subject to criticism.
On Friday, he only touched on Qatar when it came to the team's potential World Cup base.
Search for accommodation not yet over
DFB director Oliver Bierhoff and he have been to the emirate repeatedly in the past few months to look around, a neighborhood a little further away from Doha is preferred, "but nothing has been contractually fixed yet," says Flick.
The question of quarters has always been of central importance for the DFB, positively like in 2014 in Campo Bahia, negatively like four years ago in Watutinki.
In Qatar, however, where almost all venues are concentrated in a very small space, this does not necessarily have to be as crucial as in other tournaments.
A lot of things will be different at this World Cup.
Flick says he has the impression that the team "have used and spread a spirit of optimism".
The national coach is undoubtedly doing his best, he can't help it, but it's difficult to feel anything like a spirit of optimism this year.
