One the heels of his team’s 2-0 loss to Slovakia, former Bayern Munich coach and current German national team boss Julian Nagelsmann was asked about his recent statements regarding Germany’s chances to win the World Cup.
Specifically, Nagelsmann said it is Germany’s goal to win the competition (as it should be). Below is what Nagelsmann said on the topic.
“It is healthy to set goals. It is difficult for a team or even an individual to go through life without a goal they are working towards, that is worth
fighting for,” Nagelsmann said during his pre-match press conference. “I think it is healthy that we all want to win the World Cup. I am 100% convinced that no player would answer differently or they would not need to travel with us,” Nagelsmann said.
However, when asked how he felt about that statement, Nagelsmann acknowledged that he looks silly in retrospect given his team’s terrible performance vs. Slovakia.
“I know I don’t look particularly good with these words today; but it would be a fatal sign to say now that we don’t want to become world champions anymore. But for that we have to do everything differently to what we did on this dreadful Thursday,” Nagelsmann said (as captured by Kicker via @iMiaSanMia).
Germany has time to get its act together, but it will not be easy. To significantly paraphrase (and make it relevant to this topic) Matthew McConaughey’s character from Dazed and Confused, “The other teams keep getting better, but Germany just stays the same.”
The German national team hit the road to face Slovakia, looking to get off on the right foot for this round of World Cup qualifier action.
That did not happen.
Julian Nagelsmann — as he is prone to do — did some experimenting with his lineup and it did not work as the team dropped a 2-0 decision. The players were bad, the coaching was not great, and it was not a banner effort overall.
There is plenty to discuss from this match, so let’s get to it. This is what we have on tap for this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show:
- A look at the starting XI.
- A rundown of the scoring and substitutions.
- Some final thoughts and takeaways on the match.
