What ails the German national team? A lack of a proper No. 9 or a dearth of philosophy?
On Tuesday night as Germany defeated France 2-1, the home crowd at the Signal Iduna Park let loose a collective sigh of relief, interspersed with deafening cheers. Germany had finally won a match since March 26, their second in 7 matches in 2023.
The last time they won was against Peru with a score of 2-0. After that, it was just a barrage of losses and a draw. They lost against Belgium, Poland, Colombia and Japan while drawing 3-3 against Ukraine. The match against Japan was a rematch of the 2022 World Cup where they had lost to the Asian country 2-1. This time around it got worse as they were thrashed at home 4-1 by the blue samurai.
This was the last straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back as the German Football Association sacked coach Hansi Flick. But the problem of the German football team losing its shine over the years isn’t a short term one. The mystic has steadily been eroding ever since they won the World Cup back in 2014.
After that high, the record of the team in big tournaments stands thus: defeat at the semi final of Euro 2016, knocked out from the Round of 16 in Euro 2020 and elimination from the group stage in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
So what was the problem? What changed? Former Germany player Bastian Schweinsteiger, a few months ago opined that trying to emulate Pep Guardiola’s style of football might have hampered the national team.
“When Pep Guardiola joined Bayern Munich, when he came to the country, everyone believed we have to play this kind of football, like short passes and everything. We were kind of losing our values,” Schweinsteiger said.
But it’ll be really unfair to place the blame on a manager like Guardiola for the decline of an entire national team. There has been a lack of a
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