The German men’s national football team was beaten 4-1 in a friendly by Japan on Saturday. It was Germany’s third consecutive defeat, something they had not done for 38 years, and cost their coach, Hans-Dieter Flick, his job. the first to be exonerated — as they say in football — in the 123-year history of the German Football Association. Until now, the German national team had never had to remove a coach still under contract from office: all the coaches they had in the past had stopped coaching the national team when their contracts expired or they resigned in agreement with the Federation.
Flick had a contract valid until the 2024 European Championships which will still remain valid, given that he did not resign. After the match against Japan he had made it clear that he was not yet expecting the dismissal, saying among other things: «We are doing everything we can to prepare the team as best we can and I think I am still the right coach to do it».
His dismissal came at a time of great crisis for the German national team, which has always been famous for its great consistency in results. In 25 games with Flick she achieved only 12 victories and was eliminated from the World Cup groups for the second consecutive edition. Germany currently hasn’t won a match since March 25th and has lost its last three matches against Poland, Colombia and Japan, often with rather clear results. With Flick they had the worst performance in their history and in six games played in 2023, in addition to having won only one, they conceded a total of 13 goals.
Germany’s is a strange crisis because it concerns the team itself and not the national movement, which continues to produce many quality players, such as Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, the latest members of an experienced and competitive national team, at least on paper. After the defeat against Japan, captain Ilkay Gündogan spoke about this crisis, saying: «There is a great lack of confidence in the team and this makes it more difficult to obtain results».
At the beginning of the year, after the disappointing World Cup in Qatar, the Federation had tried to support Flick by establishing a team responsible for following the reconstruction of the national team made up of past champions such as Rudi Völler, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Oliver Kahn and Matthias Sammer, but also professionals taken from other sports to have a broader vision of the situation, such as Oliver Mintzlaff, a middle-distance runner from the early 2000s.
However, the results did not improve and after one of the last defeats Völler said: «We may have underestimated the situation, we don’t have enough quality». The German press had welcomed it with skepticism the establishment of this team of experts called only «to straighten the rudder, smile for the cameras and remind everyone of the traditional values of German football». Völler, a former Roma player, was appointed coach ad interim waiting for a permanent replacement.
In all this, in less than a year the German national team will host the European Championships, for which it has already qualified by right as host nation. In the coming months it will therefore have the advantage of being able to manage the changes without playing qualifying matches, as all the other European national teams are doing.
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