Accustomed to fighting in the final four of all major tournaments between 2006 and 2016, Germany has experienced an unprecedented low in its history since the 2018 World Cup with eliminations in the first round of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and in round of 16 at the Euro three years ago. A downgrade which reached its climax in September 2023 with the sidelining of coach Hansi Flick, something the German Football Federation (DFB) had never done in the past. The arrival at the end of September of Julian Nagelsmann, arrived a few months earlier to everyone’s surprise by Bayern Munich, breathed new life into the Mannschaft. It was he who was the great architect of Toni Kroos’ return to the national team.
Ironically, it is in the den of Bayern, where he sat on the bench for a season and a half, from the summer of 2021 to the end of March 2023, that the adventure of a revival of the German selection must start Friday. In recent days, he has taken it upon himself to talk about this still distant dream, namely winning the competition.. “We should dream about it and then think about what it means to be in the final or even to win it,” explained Nagelsmann at a press conference ahead of the start of the home tournament.
Against Scotland on Friday for the opening match, Ilkay Gündogan’s Germany wants to send a message to all the competition, and put itself into orbit to relive a new “Sommermärchen”, this fairy tale from the summer of 2006 who propelled Germany to the semi-finals of their World Cup. “It could be the initial ignition” of the rocket, wants to believe Thomas Müller, one of the last three survivors of the 2014 world title with Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos. “It undoes the chains”, he added, he who is now reduced to a replacement role.
Ilkay Gundogan
Credit: Getty Images
It can carry us through the entire tournament
“It can affect us throughout the tournament. The responsibility falls on us,” underlined the captain of the Mannschaft, Ilkay Gündogan, symbol of a Germany of multiple origins, he who was born of Turkish parents. In 2006, the 4-2 victory against Costa Rica ideally launched Jürgen Klinsmann’s players into the tournament. Even if an entry success in the competition does not provide any guarantee for the future, each time Germany has gone to the end of a World Cup (1954, 1974, 1990, 2014) or a Euro (1972, 1980, 1996), she won her first meeting.
This time, the opponent will be of a different caliber. Of course, Scotland is not known as one of the European leaders; in fact, it has never managed to get out of the group stage of a European Championship or a World Cup. But in the qualifying phase in 2023, especially during the first meetings in the spring, she beat Erling Haaland’s Norway (2-1 in Scandinavia) and especially the Spanish Roja (2-0), still in the list of contenders for the title. The end of the qualifying phase was much more shaky, and the last preparation matches did not provide any reassuring elements (draw against Finland, complicated victory against Gibraltar).
However, although the tournament takes place in Germany, the “Tartan Army” will be able to count on a Scottish tide throughout the tournament, with up to 200,000 supporters expected in the German streets for this British nation of 5.5 million. of inhabitants. On Thursday, on the eve of the opening match, there were already 40,000 present in Munich according to the local police.
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