The national coach is interviewed by ARD presenter Esther Sedlaczek before the group match against Switzerland. An awkward exchange of words develops – because Nagelsmann reacts ice cold.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann didn’t want to reveal his cards and simply brushed off ARD presenter Esther Sedlaczek’s question.
Shortly before the start of the German national team’s last European Championship group match against Switzerland on Sunday evening, the 36-year-old answered questions from the broadcaster ARD. A strange scene developed.
Sedlaczek asked: “Yesterday you didn’t want to reveal your motto, the headline that is above this game. Can we get you there now? That would be very interesting.”
Nagelsmann replied: “Nope.”
Sedlaczek asked: “Why?”
Nagelsmann: “Because I don’t want 18 headlines to be made out of every little thing. That stays with me and my team, and that’s fine.”
But then the issue of the grass in the Frankfurt stadium became more objective: “It’s the same for both teams, so it’s fair.” The grass looks “better than it is. The only important thing is that nobody gets injured.”
Nagelsmann had already commented on the pitch in the arena the day before and found clear words: He hoped that the grass “holds up, but I have little hope of that.”
He also had an example ready: During the European Championship match between England and Denmark (1:1) in Frankfurt, there were two scenes with Kyle Walker and Jude Bellingham in which both players could have suffered a cruciate ligament tear “if things went badly,” said Nagelsmann.
The national coach also had a suspicion about the cause of the grass problems: he didn’t want to “offend anyone from Eintracht,” explained Nagelsmann with a view to the host Bundesliga team, but the grass simply hadn’t grown after the guest appearance of the North American football league NFL. “It’s very greasy and very soft” (read more about that here).
