The German media are extremely critical of the performance of the national team in the exhibition game against Belgium (2-3). Especially the defense gets it. National coach Hansi Flick also receives advice regarding next year’s European Championship in his own country.
German media sound the alarm after disastrous start against Belgium
Germany already faced a 0-2 deficit within ten minutes on Tuesday evening and would not recover from it. Afterwards, record international Lothar Matthãus was already scathing in his criticism and the analyst receives support in the various media. Bild, for example, speaks of a huge downer towards the European Championship 2024 in its own country. “Pooh! Germany was outplayed by Belgium for half a long time in Cologne,” the boulevard newspaper opens the match report, above which is an alarming headline: “Hansi, without defense it won’t work!”
That while Flick stated before kick-off that after the 2-0 practice win over Peru he was still very pleased with the defense. The national coach wanted to build on that against Belgium, but Bild saw that nothing came of it at all. “The first 35 minutes were incredibly bad. This is the biggest demonstration a German team has had to allow in its own stadium in recent years,” the newspaper pointed to Belgium’s good game. “There was no sign of will, passion or dueling power. Belgium could easily have led 4-0.”
Defense was the Achilles heel
The second half offered a bit of courage towards the European Championship, but according to Kicker, Flick should stop experimenting. In an opinion piece, the magazine states that only substitute Emre Can was sufficient and that supporting players such as Antonio Rüdiger, Niklas Süle and Ilkay Gündogan were sorely missed. “Matthias Ginter and Thilo Kehrer were completely overrun at center back and cannot be recommended as alternatives to the top dogs and full backs Marius Wolf and David Raum were also lacking defensively.”
Just like during the last World Cup, defense was the Achilles heel of the German national team, Kicker saw. It was only when Can came into the team after 32 minutes that there was some cohesion again. Something that midfielders Leon Goretzka, who disappointed again according to German media, and Joshua Kimmich could not have taken care of. Kicker therefore advocates that Flick will work towards the European Championship with a fixed starting eleven. “The fans expect progress against Ukraine and Poland in June and a third opponent yet to be determined.”
Flick admitted to RTL afterwards that it was not good enough what his team showed against Belgium on Tuesday. “We were too cautious and too passive and couldn’t put pressure on the opponent. Belgium punished that mercilessly,” said the national coach, who acknowledged that Germany was lucky that it remained with two hits. It was only with Can and debutant Felix Nmecha in the team that stability returned somewhat. “We switched systems (from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3), then there was a bit more stability, after thirty minutes things got better.”
