Germany have enough quality to become a dominant force in football again, but one thing they are missing is the defensive strength that helped them win four World Cups, coach Hansi Flick said after Thursday’s exit. .
Germany finally won their first group stage game at the tournament in Qatar with a chaotic 4-2 victory over Costa Rica. But Japan’s upset of Spain saw Flick’s side finish third on goal difference and exit the tournament in the first round — just as they did in 2018.
When asked what Germany needed to be considered among the world’s elite again, Flick said they needed to follow Spain’s lead after their European counterparts built a young squad with a strong tactical base.
“We have players at big clubs and we have quality. For the future of German football we need to train differently,” said Flick.
“We’ve been talking about new goalkeepers and full-backs for years. But what’s always been good is that we defend well. We need the basics. [para estar certo]🇧🇷
“Spain are good at training young players, they know their tactics very well. In the next 10 years we need to focus on the new generation of footballers.”
Germany scored just two goals before reaching their final group stage match and while Flick was unwilling to “look for excuses”, he admitted that one of the reasons for their early exit was their lack of efficiency in front of goal.
“It would have been nice to beat Spain, overcome the opposition and also reward ourselves with another goal. That would have been ideal. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do it.”
“We did our duty today with a win, but the result could have been better.”
Flick also refused to blame Spain for their loss to Japan, who topped the group with two wins over European teams.
“I don’t care about other teams, it’s all up to us. If you look at the games and the number of goals scored, it’s our fault,” he said.
“I’m convinced we had chances against Spain. You have to take your chances. It would have been a different situation today.”
While Germany struggled as a whole, there was life around the final third thanks to the energetic Jamal Musiala, who was at the heart of most of their attacks.
“It’s hard to single out one player, but it’s unfortunate that a player like Jamal can no longer play in the tournament,” said Flick.
“He’s fantastic, his skills, his one-on-one, he’s superb. In the years to come, we’ve got talent [aparecendo]we are going in the right direction, but we really have to focus on training methods.’
“Jamal was trained in England, not Germany. Kai Havertz also brought his game. We also have other young players among us and we need to draw the right conclusions.”
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