sports national team
Völler’s warning to Flick
As of: 3:38 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Serious issues: national coach Hansi Flick (left) and DFB sports director Rudi Völler in conversation
Source: Getty Images/Andreas Schlichter
Rudi Völler sees parallels with the senior national team in the weak performance of the U21s at the European Championship. After the recent bankruptcies of the selection coached by Hansi Flick, the DFB sports director has a clear assignment to the national coach.
At the weekend he made his way to Georgia to follow the second group game of the German U21 national team against the Czech Republic live on site. What Rudi Völler saw there on Sunday evening was largely reminiscent of the performances of the senior team: the German selection didn’t play well – and the 1-1 draw against Israel was followed by a 1-2 draw against the Czech Republic.
“It’s a bit like a reflection of the senior national team,” said the DFB’s sporting director on Monday at the team hotel in Batumi. According to Völler, the U21s lacked consistency in front of goal and defensively in the duels in the defeat the night before. “Now the constellation is obviously difficult. You only have one game left now, you don’t have it in your own hands anymore,” added Völler: “Nevertheless, there is still a glimmer of hope that you can still play a good game, try to beat the English, and of course a bit hoping how the other game turns out.”
The former national striker and world champion from 1990 did not only talk about the youngsters on Monday. Speaking about the A-Team, Völler said he expects a different face after the summer break. “There has to be a reaction in September, and Hansi Flick knows that too,” said Völler to the players – and national coach Hansi Flick.
“Hansi knows that he is challenged with his coaching team”
A year before the European Championships at home, the Flick team has been without a win for four games. “Of course, Hansi and his coaching team know that he is challenged,” said Völler. The experiments in June were unsuccessful. The next international matches – Germany meets Japan on September 9 and France three days later – will certainly see more of the team that will form the core of next year’s European Championships. The fact that one or the other player is no longer there after disappointing performances is “a completely normal occurrence,” said Völler.
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Unfortunately, some positions are not as well filled as they used to be, said Völler. He pointed out the defensive and the attack. “We miss the classic goalscorers a bit, we won’t be able to reinvent them either,” said the former world-class striker: “But the material is still good enough that we can get the curve from September: with a good basic attitude, with a good tactics that we can play a good European Championship next year.” The European Championships will take place from June 14th to July 14th.
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In the international matches in June, the DFB team suffered defeats against Poland (0:1) and Colombia (0:2) after beating Ukraine 3:3. “When you see the results and statistics, it’s really a bit bumpy at the moment,” said Völler. “You have to deal with the creative players that we still have in Germany in such a way that you put something good together.”
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You have to practice good duel behavior, said Völler: “We have to get there again. The basis is to master one-on-one situations – getting past the opponent or not letting the opponent get past. There’s a bit of a problem at the moment.”