The old master: Portugals Cristiano Ronaldo (m/front) at the header, Jonathan Tah (right) comes too late.
Photo: dpa/Sven Hoppe
When Joshua Kimmich, Marc-André Ter Stegen and other German players gradually climbed onto the small podium behind the cabin gang in the Munich arena to talk about Portugal about 1: 2 (0: 0), nothing went wrong. This had to be emphasized on this predicament on Wednesday evening, at the end of which they took up a completely deserved defeat in the semi-finals of the Final Four when selecting the German Football Association (DFB).
With the aim of winning the title in the Nations League, it will be nothing to reinforce yourself and above all the self -image for the World Cup in a year. Instead, before the game for third place on Sunday in Stuttgart, it is initially about the causes research for the tart mood dampers, according to the captain Kimmich particularly sharp criticism. “Many things were very bad. We were too far away from our limit in all areas of the game, «he said after his 100th DFB mission. “You have not noticed that we have a winning mentality, a certain greed that we want to go to the final.” In the past year and a half, this has not been so often that we were so far away from our topper form. ” Rumms!
The team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann was really not much. Not even warming up, for which the DFB team could not be responsible. As soon as Ter Stegen had started to prepare for his first international match since the 2-2 in the Netherlands in September (with a patella tendon tear), he had to leave the lawn again because hailstorms drummed up to his head.
In the end, despite the setback, the 33 -year -old goalkeeper could look at a successful return on his own behalf. With several parades, he had retained the German team from a significantly higher defeat. After a long injury, it was nice to be there again and to fight a title, “even if it is unfortunately over early,” said Ter Stegen. It is now about “at least getting third place on Sunday”.
In addition, the German fans against Portugal were able to put a solid debut from striker Nick Woltemade and especially the pretty leadership when the German team conquered the ball in the pressing before Kimmich led to Florian Wirtz, who completed his head (48.).
But after that the team “hired the company,” complained Nagelsmann and also indirectly practiced self -criticism when he admitted that one could “discuss the change”. Above all, the triple exchange Serge Gnabry, Robin Gosens and Niclas Füllkrug for Leroy Sané, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Nick Woltemade was particularly important. At the latest afterwards, a break could be seen in the already paralyzing game of the DFB team. The first half was still decent, “in the second half it was nothing left,” criticized Kimmich that it was “one of our worst games” of the past year and a half.
Kimmich indirectly raised an unpleasant question: Why did greed and intensity be missing? Nagelsmann also particularly worried the fact, he wants to pursue the causes. “Of course we lack a lot of quality,” Kimmich recalled the failures of six regulars such as Jamal Musiala and Antonio Rüdiger. But for the game against the ball »you don’t need so much quality to bring energy and mentality to the square. That was clearly too little. “
However, it was shown that the German team cannot catch the absence of top performers. This was particularly noticeable because the Portuguese changed a lot of quality in a sharp contrast, including the Francisco Conceição, who was voted player in the game. The 22-year-old left Gosens before his compensation and scored well after an undisturbed 30-meter run by Schlenzer (63.).
Five minutes later, the German defense released rooms again before the 40 -year -old Cristiano Ronaldo has been pushed into Portugal’s first victory against Germany for 25 years. “What we brought from the bank didn’t work at all,” the 2014 world champion, by Mertesacker, ruled in his role as ZDF expert. The team lacks “Die Kaderbreite” for the top of the world. Woltemade will also be missing on Sunday. The Stuttgart said goodbye to the U21, which is prepared for the European Championship.
As sad as the findings were: It is not the first time in Nagelsmann’s term that the team reveals weaknesses. At the same time, she has already demonstrated, pulling the right teachings, then keeping up with the top nations and even beating them. The necessary resilience is now being sought again in order to achieve a reliable level despite failures. Nagelsmann said: “We always need 100 percent of everyone.” That was a demand for the game for third place.