Football – Positive background noise in the national team

Golden October is also over in the Frankfurt city forest. When the national team returned to the German Football Association (DFB) campus, they experienced a gray November day. Even the floodlights were switched on on Monday during the afternoon session in preparation for the duels against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday in Freiburg and three days later against Hungary in Budapest.

Previously, national coach Julian Nagelsmann had left no doubt that his team would tackle the final tasks of the international season seriously. Of course, the last group games of the Nations League “don’t have the same sporting relevance as the quarter-finals of a home European Championship,” but they want to “preserve the joy somehow over the turn of the year.” Ultimately, it’s also about maintaining the positive background noise around Germany’s football flagship. Especially in times when the political situation is so negative. The national coach “didn’t want to make his opinion known” and “didn’t want to exaggerate” football. But his team could “perhaps also put a smile on the faces of one or two politicians who don’t have much to laugh about with two good games.”

Exactly a year ago, the autumn course was a low point with the defeats against Turkey and Austria, and now the ailing players, from Florian Wirtz to Jamal Musiala to Robin Koch, have all arrived at the meeting point in Frankfurt. “Everyone wants to train and play.” This is not a given in the autumn peak phase with all the English weeks.

The national coach sees “a balancing act between our ambitions and the legitimate demands of the clubs.” After consulting with the club coaches, he was definitely willing to “make compromises.” Although Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Deniz Undav, Niclas Füllkrug, Aleksandar Pavlovic, Jamie Leweling and David Raum are missing half a dozen players due to injury.

After reaching the quarter-finals of the Nations League early, the squad should still be strong enough to win the group. The national coach confirmed that the DFB would then like to host the Final Four at the beginning of June 2025: “We are trying to do that and would be happy.” Nagelsmann had considered giving this competition more appreciation from the German side as essential on the way to the 2026 World Cup .

His predecessors, Hansi Flick and Joachim Löw, had never been able to do much with the Nations League, but they failed to realize that nowadays selection teams cannot only achieve a winning mentality once the tournament has started. Before winning their titles, both world champions Argentina and European champions Italy had committed themselves to a common goal in a long search process – Germany now wants to follow suit.

The thrust is correct: in 2022 and 2023 the DFB team only won seven of 23 international matches, this year it has already won nine. The change in mood seems to be lasting since the European Championships. The passion that has blossomed again among many fans can be seen in numerous parameters. On Monday, 150 elementary school students from the Waldhofschule Mannheim, 100 fans from the national team fan club and 30 people from the amateur club FSV 1968 Behringen watched the training. The Thuringian club won the main prize in a nationwide DFB campaign to strengthen amateur football. Sports director Rudi Völler led the district league players around the campus, standard trainer Mads Buttgereit led a locker room discussion and at the end everyone even stood on the pitch together with their idols.

Nagelsmann knows that the best connection to the base still comes through passion in an international match. Wearing DFB uniforms must be fun and not a burden. Recently, newcomers like Jamie Leweling and Tim Kleindienst have proudly worn the jersey. Now Leroy Sané, a national player, is back, whose red card in the test match in Vienna on November 21, 2023 was almost symbolic of the wrong path of some DFB stars. Nagelsmann also exchanged ideas with him and promptly opened the door again. Because: “There is no question that he is one of the best players we have in Germany if he fulfills his potential.”