Under observation: Leroy Sané is given a new chance in the DFB team by national coach Julian Nagelsmann.
Photo: imago/Moritz Müller
Julian Nagelsmann has changed a lot in his almost 14 months as national coach – and has done a lot of things right. 2024 is the best international year for a long time: After 13 games so far, Nagelsmann’s points average is 2.31, his team conceded an average of only 0.69 goals, and the only defeat came in the quarter-finals of the European Championship against eventual European champions Spain.
He wants to take all the positive things, “the joy,” as the national coach says, with him into the new year. So now, after qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Nations League, it is now important to secure victory in Group 3 in the last two games. With a five-point lead over the Netherlands and Hungary, the goal would be achieved with a win this Saturday in Freiburg against the team from Bosnia-Herzegovina; three days later in Budapest there would be another chance against hosts Hungary.
Demand of the national coach
Since Monday, the national coach has gathered his team on the campus of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt am Main. Leroy Sané will also be there again. Nagelsmann calls the FC Bayern offensive player “one of the best players we have in Germany.” Sané can now be dispensed with in the team’s new structure; this time he was nominated to replace Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav, who was missing due to injury. »Everyone knows what he can do. It’s up to him to show that,” the national coach formulated a clear demand.
Hardly any other player personifies the development of the DFB team better than Sané. The years of failure under national coaches Joachim Löw and Hansi Flick were characterized by the self-importance that the German national team was God-given to be among the best. However, many things that are necessary for this have been neglected. When Sané wobbled his left foot in a provocatively casual way, but then the ball was suddenly gone after a lost duel or a bad pass and he himself stood there in insult to his majesty, he showed a lack of passion, stubbornness and a reluctance to defend in equal measure.
Wasted talent
Nagelsmann says of Sané that no one else could show his potential. There is no need to judge a person who has a tattoo of himself on his back and arrives at the national team in midsummer wearing a designer lambskin jacket. Back in 2019, Sané was 23 years old and consistently showed his skills in the English Premier League. A year earlier he was recognized there as the best young professional. At Manchester City under coach Pep Guardiola he worked because he was one of many, the big stars were others. But Sané really wanted to be one. When he moved to FC Bayern in 2020, he said he was “aware” of being the new figurehead of the German record champions: “I prepared for that.” At this point, his career came to a halt, and the great successes remained both at the club and in the national team. You can judge a footballer who wastes his talent.
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Sané is also not without controversy at FC Bayern. The national team is an opportunity for him that Nagelsmann makes possible. For him, said the national coach, as for everyone else: “He has a certain role to fulfill.” Such demands should be normal, but they weren’t for a long time at the DFB. Löw and Flick lacked the insight and courage to make changes and were therefore entirely dependent on the mood of the national players. Now the title of world class alone is no longer enough to play. Not even to be called into the squad at all.
New team spirit
The positive and profitable change was now described in the days of preparation by someone who is far from being the focus. “Everyone runs for each other, everyone puts everything into it,” said Robin Koch. The Frankfurt defender was the only outfield player at the home European Championship in the summer who did not make it from the bench onto the field. Nevertheless, he was excited about every game and was always fully involved in training. Left-back Maximilian Mittelstädt from VfB Stuttgart sums it up: “We are all proud to be there at all.” This rekindled team spirit is a crucial reason for the defensive stability regained under Nagelsmann, without which success is impossible.
Whether Sané also feels this new desire to be a national player has not yet been really determined. On Wednesday and Thursday, Nagelsmann preferred to let his team train unobserved. In order to be able to play the role required by the national coach in the future, Sané will inevitably have to join the team and subordinate tactics and system. If he succeeds, the national team opportunity is also one for his career, which he could kickstart again at the age of 28. Looking back at the European Championships, the national coach revealed how difficult he was finding it: he was dissatisfied. After Nagelsmann replaced Sané at half-time in the quarter-finals, the DFB team immediately played on an equal footing with the Spaniards.
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