Germany defeated Costa Rica in the final match of Group E play, but were eliminated from the World Cup.
There may not be widespread enthusiasm for this World Cup among the German public, but that is no reflection on Hansi Flick and his reinvigorated side. After what, by their standards was an early exit from the European Championship last year, Germany have quickly rebuilt under their new manager…
The manager
Hansi Flick knows what it takes to win the World Cup as a coach: the 57-year-old was Joachim Low’s assistant at Brazil 2014.
A former Bayern Munich player and sporting director at the German FA, Flick owes his current position to a superb 18 months as coach at Bayern, culminating in their 2019-20 Champions League final win. A very public falling-out with Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic last spring made him the continuity candidate to take over from Low after the Euros.
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Flick has transferred a lot of personnel and tactics across from his successful Bayern team. His Germany, too, like to press high and dominate the ball in a 4-2-3-1 system. Fifteen games have brought nine wins, five draws and one defeat, 0-1 to Hungary in the Nations League, where Germany finished third in a four-team group.
He’s both a meticulous worker and a great man-manager. The team are quite enamoured with him.
Japan upset Germany 2-1 in their opening match Wednesday.
The household name you haven’t heard of yet
One of the lesser-known players in the national team is 22-year-old Nico Schlotterbeck. The Borussia Dortmund defender has an outside chance of making the starting XI in Qatar after mostly solid performances in his first season at Signal Iduna Park. Before that, he was at fellow Bundesliga side Freiburg, alongside his older brother Kevin. Their uncle Niels (Hansa Rostock) and cousin Michelle (Hoffenheim Women) have also played professionally.
An aggressive, front-foot centre-back, Schlotterbeck’s a bit of a fan favourite for speaking his mind and not caring all that much about the consequences. For his Dortmund team initiation, he chose to a song called Layla — a party anthem that had been banned at some venues because of its sexist lyrics.
There’s something of the lovable rogue Kevin Grosskreutz about him — even if he’s very unlikely to drunkenly urinate in the lobby of a five-star hotel, as the 2014 (non-playing) World Cup winner Grosskreutz once did.
Strengths
Germany have pace, variety and quality in abundance up top. Thirteen different players have scored a combined 43 goals in Flick’s reign, and that was without the new additions of 17-year-old starlet Youssoufa Moukoko (Dortmund) and Niclas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), the best German striker in the league this season. Both should make up for the loss of RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner, who was the most prolific forward (eight goals) in the national team under Flick before injuring his ankle.
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Another traditional quality that will hopefully be in evidence again is Germany’s ability to come together as a team, both tactically and spiritually, during a big tournament. Die Nationalmannschaft rarely boast the best individuals but collectively, they tend to gel and hide their weaknesses better than most.
Weaknesses
Speaking of which… Flick would love to have a superstar centre-forward banging in the goals on a regular basis but in truth Germany haven’t had that player since Miroslav Klose retired — and even the 2014 winner and record scorer at World Cups (16 goals) was mostly happier playing in a deeper role behind another centre-forward.
The national team have found other ways and other players to fill the gap but against deep defensive lines, a more orthodox centre-forward has been missed at times. In Moukoko, 17, and Fullkrug, Flick has options, but it’ll be quite a gutsy call to start either of them without them having any prior experience at this level.
While Germany’s full-backs are solid and functional rather than spectacular going forward, another concern could be the slight lack of depth in central midfield. Germany have three great players in Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Ilkay Gundogan — four if you count Jamal Musiala, who can play in a deeper role — but not much behind them.
Local knowledge
It’s official, Germany are no longer “Die Mannschaft” (the team). The moniker was introduced in the wake of the 2014 World Cup triumph but fans and media always considered it awfully artificial — no one ever referred to them that way, aside from the German FA home page and sponsorship ads. It’s always been “Die Nationalmannschaft” (the national team) or “Die DFB-Elf” (The German FA XI).
This summer, the unloved nickname was quietly dropped.
Unfortunately, the decision came too late for kit manufacturer Adidas, whose most expensive replica version of the World Cup shirt still has “Die Mannschaft” printed inside the collar.
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In case you were wondering, the black vertical stripe is inspired by the first-ever national team shirt from 1908, not the mysterious monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Expectations back home
There isn’t a great deal of enthusiasm about this World Cup in Germany, but that’s more to do with it being staged in Qatar than Flick and his men. They’re well liked, by and large, and expected to give a much better account of themselves than Low’s last side, eliminated in the last 16 at Euro 2020.
This being Flick’s first big tournament, he’s not under great pressure to win it. He will need to qualify for the knockouts, however, and also show that he’s developing a side who can compete at the next Euros on home soil in two years’ time.
A quarter-finals exit at the hands of Brazil or similar outcome would be seen as acceptable. Anything less than that, probably not.
Read more: See the rest of The Athletic’s World Cup 2022 squad guides
(Main graphic — photo: Getty Images/design: Sam Richardson)
