AOn Tuesday, the German football world was still well sorted – at least as far as the sporting part is concerned. There Hansi Flick sat full of confidence in the “Press Conference Room 2” of the International Congress Center in Doha, he reported on the anticipation of the opening match and how good his impressions from the last training session were.
After the national coach, Joshua Kimmich took his place on the podium. The man from Munich spoke about the fact that they had to wait a long time for this opportunity, four and a half years since leaving Russia, about the childhood dream that such a World Cup is, and that he can therefore look forward to it, Qatar or not wool. He even got applause for that.
When Kimmich was then asked about his role, that he would go into a tournament for the first time in the heart of the national soccer team, after playing in 2018 as a right-back and in 2021 in Joachim Löw’s system in midfield, he could do one in his chest Mannes answer, who has finally arrived: “I’m happy that I can now play a tournament in central midfield.”
Germany needs two wins
Nothing has been certain since Wednesday – only that the situation is precarious before the second group game on Sunday against Spain in al-Khor (8 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the World Cup, on ZDF and on MagentaTV). In a way, the Germans can be happy this time that they are subordinate to the FIFA regiment, which namely still organizes their World Cup according to the principle that in the event of a tie, the goal difference decides, not, as with UEFA, the direct comparison. That leaves the door to the round of 16 a few inches wider than Japan. However, the Germans will need two wins to stay safe in Qatar beyond the middle of next week.
When it comes to the question of how this should go (well), there are all sorts of approaches, starting with the idea that Hansi Flick’s team could play at least 90 minutes like they did in the first 60 against Japan.
Apparently, the team meetings since Wednesday have been discussed extensively and controversially, as Julian Brandt and Kai Havertz reported on Friday, it was also about the strategic orientation, the missed “switch” to maybe be a little lower defensively, to the front the 1:0 nothing ignited. However, it is likely that there will be personnel changes. The question is: how far do they go? And what principle does Flick follow?
double win
He could radically rely on the Bayern model, which would mean, for example, putting Leon Goretzka at Kimmich’s side – an obvious variant because it has proven itself in Munich. He could rely on the form principle, from which maybe Mario Götze or maybe Niclas Füllkrug could benefit.
But he could even intervene at an actually untouchable point in his construction plan, and he did not rule this out on Thursday. Moving Kimmich from the sixth position to the right side of defense would promise a double win for the German team: finally a first-class solution on the outside of the defensive chain and one more place in the center, so that two no longer have to argue: Ilkay Gündogan and Leon Goretzka.
Whether the third party, Kimmich, would be happy in this case is another question.
