On a sunny Sunday in Moscow, June 17, 2018, I was privileged to be in the Luzhniki Stadium full of a colorful and passionate Mexican crowd waiting for the world champions Germany, in their first match of the tournament.
Germany failed to get into the rhythm and in the 35th minute Chucky Lozano scored the goal that shook the stadium and was the first step in the collapse of the world champions who did not make it past the group stage.
Many attributed the failures to the conservatism of coach Yogi Lev.
To the fact that he kept faith with the golden generation that brought him the World Cup in 2014, to the fact that he has not renewed tactically in recent years and especially to the feeling that the Germans need to shake up the team, bring in a hungry coach who knows the system and will bring new spirit to the team.
Hanzi Flick was the natural choice.
He worked in the team when it won the World Cup in Brazil, recorded phenomenal success at Bayern with six titles in a season and above all was seen as innovative, diverse and open, all the qualities that Germany was looking for after the conservatism of the previous coach.
Germany did have a successful qualifying tournament, but did not arrive at the World Cup with good momentum.
A sequence of mediocre results in the Nations League, without a real striker 9, a role that has traditionally been very significant for the Germans in all their successes (from Gerd Müller, through Rudy Feller and Jurgen Klinsmann to Miroslav Klose).
Flick's important tactical decision was to start with Kai Habertz as a striker, a role he performs at Chelsea, but not his natural role.
In the first game against Japan, Germany looked good, but lacked a finishing leg.
Flick tried to change during the second half, but his substitutions slowed the team down, exposed its brakes and the Japanese made a remarkable turnaround.
flick
He didn't know how to change on the fly, photo: Getty Images
From here, the Germans lost control of the event, rescuing a draw against Spain in a game in which Flick came up with Thomas Müller as a striker, which made Germany's offensive game completely sterile and that's basically where it all ended - Germany said goodbye to a second World Cup in a row in the group stage.
Germany, which will host the next Euro, is facing a crossroads.
Flick is still a great coach and he will learn from his mistakes, but the team will have to recalculate its course.
The Germans have a very high-quality new generation led by Jamal Musiale, Youssouf Mokoko, Karim Adeyemi, Niko Schlotbreck, Kai Habertz and David Raum.
Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Leroy Sane also have many good years ahead of them, but they also have a disadvantage in key positions such as striker, right back and the brakes are not world top.
This is where the coach comes in, who will have to build a style that fits the tools he has, restore the power to the defensive game (Germany was defeated twice in the tournament by both Japan and Costa Rica) and from there restore the power of deterrence to Germany, a power that it has actually lost since that great win in 2014.
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