Ten months before the European Championship at home, former world champion Sami Khedira is very worried about the German national soccer team, but still has hope of a successful tournament. “The EM is a character test,” said the 36-year-old former professional in an interview with “Kicker” (Monday edition).
In the next four games against Japan, France, the USA and Mexico in September and October, it’s about finding a team that has character and personality, emphasized the 2014 world champion. “And that develops the awareness to play for Germany want and to leave everything on the pitch. If that succeeds, I am convinced that we can rekindle euphoria in our own country.”
“Older players disposed of at top level”
However, Khedira warned: “But if we believe that we have to bring the best individual players in the country onto the pitch, it can become difficult and end badly.” The former midfielder asked national coach Hansi Flick to nominate the best, regardless of age. “Four or five years ago we started with the philosophy of giving young players the opportunity to become a national team player, sometimes too easily,” criticized Khedira.
“Older players at a top level – like Jérôme Boateng, Mats Hummels or Thomas Müller – were disposed of because young players allegedly needed space to develop. Something like that is a fatal sign for me.” The best have to be invited. “The national team is not an experimental field to test young players. We have a U21 team for that,” said the 77-time national player.
Christopher Meltzer, Munich Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 11 Marc Heinrich, Wyong Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 12 Marc Heinrich, Brisbane Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 18
The national team would be missing certain components, which would not be possible in ten months before the European Championships. “It will be several years before we get a corresponding number nine again. And when I look at our full-backs and compare them to Philipp Lahm, that’s just not the level that we had in Germany and that we need to dominate games against other nations,” explained Khedira.
The training is overprofessional. “Everything is structured homogeneously, so you only produce the same types of players,” he complained. The players must be transported: “We want to win every game, every cross has to be right, every header, every goal. This is competitive sport and the sooner I internalize it, the quicker it becomes a habit.”
According to his own statement, Khedira has not yet spoken specifically with the DFB about a possible commitment as a sporting director. At the beginning of June it was reported that Khedira and coach Hannes Wolf should form the sporting management at DFB in the future as a kind of dual leadership.
Meanwhile, Ilkay Gündogan is hoping for a quick end to the experiments of national coach Flick after the recent failures of the German national team. “We’re not with the national team that much, we need a framework to be successful. It’s only one year left, not many games left. We don’t have much time left,” says Germany’s footballer of the year to the “kicker” with a view to the home European Championship in 2024.
“We don’t have much time left”: Ilkay Gündogan : Image: Picture-Alliance
Football is “a lot about self-confidence and self-image,” said Gündogan: “In my view, it is important that we fundamentally need a framework. That wasn’t there recently, and you could see that. It’s like this: The more trust the scaffolding gets, the more it will pay back with performance. And then the players around it will also find it easier.”
Flick recently said that he wanted to start playing in the European Championships for the international matches against Japan and France in September. “Hansi knows what needs to be done and he has our full support. There are now no more pre-season games. There is only success or failure,” said Gündogan, who switched from Champions League winners Manchester City to FC Barcelona in the summer.