Germany have belief back ahead of Euro 2024, says Lahm
Lahm, who is tournament director for Euro 2024, said the promising performance brought back "euphoria in our country" because the "German national team played football well and played football passionately". In Qatar in 2022, Germany reached a new low when they were eliminated at the group stage of a World Cup for the second time in a row.
Hansi Flick became the first Germany coach in history to be sackedand was replaced by Julian Nagelsmann in September. In Lyon on Saturday, Nagelsmann appeared to be finally moulding a new, young team, less than three months from the opening match of the tournament against Scotland on June 14.
"(Germany) performed completely differently" against France, Lahm said of the victory that came thanks to a first international goal from Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz and a Kai Havertz strike. "We had an established midfield and of course very, very young, dynamic, attacking players. And of course that brings self-confidence. "But we can only know for sure over a longer period of time."
Lahm played every minute in Germany's run to the semi-finals as hosts of the 2006 World Cup before captaining the side to victory in Brazil eight years later. As captain of the last world-beating German team, Lahm understands how complex the process of developing a top team can be - and that talent may not be enough. "Super-talented players like Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz are still relatively young, but have a lot of experience," he said.
"They certainly have the talent to raise the German national team to another level, but it's important everything fits together, that the pieces of the puzzle fit together - and that was certainly the case in 2014. "Everyone identified with their role and made their skills
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