Stuttgart (dpa) – After a forced break of 289 days, Joachim Löw and his players hungry for success are allowed to start again. But when the German national team restarted, the national coach still had “two hearts in one breast”, as the 2014 world champion coach himself admitted.
On the one hand, the DFB team with interim captain Toni Kroos will finally return to competition mode on Thursday (8.45 p.m. / ZDF) in Stuttgart against Spain. On the other hand, Löw is experiencing an unloved premiere in his 182nd game as DFB head coach. “As a coach, I’ve never had a game without a spectator,” said the 60-year-old. The start of the second Nations League edition takes place as a ghost game. “Still, I’m highly motivated,” emphasized Löw at the start of his 15th season as national coach.
For the Löw team, it feels like at least the third restart after the completely unsuccessful World Cup with the preliminary round in Russia 2018. First, the national coach tried the well-deserved world championship staff around Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels, then he sent overnight the young savages around Serge Gnabry on the pitch. And now after the longest international break in 50 years, Germany is aiming for the fourth European title with new faces like Robin Gosens and the returnees Leroy Sané and Niklas Süle.
The new generation has already internalized the claim that Germany always strives for the best at major tournaments. Before his home international match, Timo Werner sees the often ambiguous Nations League as a good “preparation for the European Championship, to play and win the title there,” said the native of Stuttgart, who continued to join Chelsea after moving from Leipzig wants to mature into a top striker. “We now have a very young team,” said Werner and explained the possible advantage. Many players already know each other from youth teams or former clubs, which is good for the team structure.
The upheaval has already taken place: the current squad includes nine Confederation Cup winners from 2017, but only three world champions from 2014 (Kroos, Julian Draxler, Matthias Ginter). Now it is a matter of inserting processes and automatisms. In order to consolidate the new structures, tests like those against Spain and on Sunday in Switzerland as competitive games are particularly important for Löw. “The Nations League is a very good competition, the teams are at a very high level. That makes these games valuable, that is good for the development of our team, ”emphasized the national coach.
The fact that Löw does without important team pillars such as the Champions League winners Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Gnabry and Leon Goretzka from FC Bayern as well as Marcel Halstenberg and Lukas Klostermann from the premier class semi-finalist RB Leipzig fits into his EM plan in terms of load management. At the same time, the 26-year-old winger Gosens from Atalanta Bergamo will have the opportunity to start as a newcomer. In central defense, Löw can test with the three-man chain Ginter, Süle and Antonio Rüdiger, which could also be the first solution in the coming summer.
And on the offensive, Löw’s team is excellent even without the national team long-term goal scorer Gnaby with Werner, Sané and Kai Havertz, who is about to move to Chelsea. “Of course I am always happy that we have the young team that needs time now, that needs games, that needs stakes, that we can test and use them,” remarked Oliver Bierhoff. The national team director, however, also knows about the influences of the ongoing corona pandemic and the resulting even more compressed schedule.
“It’s exhausting, especially now in the difficult times when people have other worries,” said Bierhoff. During the Corona break, Löw thought for a long time about the classification of professional football. Also because he himself experienced what Covid-19 can do in his circle of friends. The decision of the European Football Union (UEFA) that the international match would start again after an almost ten-month break in all stadiums on the continent without spectators met with understanding in the DFB circle. “It’s not only very difficult for the fans,” said Werner. “But in a position it is better for everyone involved if you keep a certain distance.”
The longing for spectators to return to the stadium is still great. «We miss the fans incredibly. Something is missing, it doesn’t feel right, ”said Bayern defender Süle. The German Football Association actually planned to let at least 500 spectators into the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
Germany played the last game before the Corona break on November 19 of the previous year in the European Championship qualification against Northern Ireland. There were 42,855 fans in the 6-1 win in Frankfurt. All international matches scheduled for 2020 have so far been canceled, the EM has been postponed to summer 2021. “There has never been a situation like this,” said the national coach about the continued special situation.
The probable lineups:
Germany: Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt / 30 years / 3 international matches) – Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach / 26/29), Süle (FC Bayern Munich / 24/24), Rüdiger (FC Chelsea / 27/30) – Kehrer (Paris Saint- Germain / 23/7), Gündogan (Manchester City / 29/37), Kroos (Real Madrid / 30/96), Gosens (Atalanta Bergamo / 26/0) – Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen / 21/7) – Sané (FC Bayern Munich / 24/21), Werner (FC Chelsea / 24/29)
Spanien: De Gea (Manchester United / 29/41) – Jesús Navas (FC Sevilla / 34/42), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid / 34/170), Pau Torres (FC Villarreal / 23/1), Gayá (FC Valencia / 25/7) – Rodri (Manchester City / 24/11), Fabián Ruíz (SSC Neapel / 24/6), Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad San Sebastián / 24/0), Thiago (FC Bayern München / 29/37) – Ferrán Torres (Manchester City / 20/0), Rodrigo (FC Valencia / 29/22).
Referee: Orsato (Italy)
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