National soccer team: heat, camp, hardship: drastic World Cup teaching for Nagelsmann

Julian Nagelsmann decided not to live the extreme football challenges in American summer. Rudi Völler was also not on site at the club World Cup. But the national coach and the DFB sports director can find out intensively at the beginning of September at the beginning of September at the qualification for the 2026 World Cup at the Munich national players around captain Joshua Kimmich or those of Borussia Dortmund.

Then Leon Goretzka will report games in completely open American football arenas in the lunch or afternoon heat. “It’s already blatant. It costs extreme forces,” moaned the 30-year-old Bayern professional.

Goretzka: “It’s already blatant”

Nevertheless, of course, he wants to be there again at the Mammut tournament with 48 teams from June 11th to July 19th, 2026 in Mexico, Canada and the USA. Because the “right” World Cup will not only be bigger, it will primarily have sporting a completely different value than the club competition.

As is well known, Nagelsmann wants to become world champion. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany and BVB colleague Niko Kovac could certainly tell him a lot. It is crucial to accept the drastic conditions. And to be well prepared in the tournament logistics from the basic camp to the trips.

“The kick-off time is a very important point,” said Kovac after the quarter-final off with Dortmund against Real Madrid. “The fact that the players of the midday sun are exposed to wherever things are so hot that a normal-mortal should not go outside and the footballers should bring top performances, which is very borderline,” criticized Kovac. “I would like to take some consideration of the players.”

The fact that 2026 will only be played in the at least shady evening hours is a utopian wish. Not every stadium has a roof and can be cooled down to pleasant temperatures like the arena in Atlanta, where DFB star Jamal Musiala injured so badly against Paris.

FIFA plans with several kick -off times a day. But television pays billions of sums for the transmission rights. And of course Kimmich and Co. should not be seen constantly in the middle of the night in Germany, but if possible in European prime time. After all, at least lunch is to be avoided in the extreme venues.

Effenberg: You don’t have the full power

Völler knows that. The 65-year-old was there as a player at the 1994 World Cup in the USA when the national team had to play against South Korea in the glutin heat of Dallas and won 3-2 after a 3-0 lead.

Stefan Effenberg was on the pitch at the time and still remembers well. It was brutal, the 56-year-old said before a Bayern game in Miami: “You will be trained as a player that you can go for 90 or 120 minutes. But here you can pull off for 20 minutes. You don’t have the full power.”

104 games, four time zones, 16 venues

104 games, four time zones and large distances between the 16 venues in three countries must be considered. From Mexico City to Kansas City, it is more than 2000 kilometers like from Miami to Toronto. The DFB is currently examining several quarters and is also competing with other nations, which are also intensive in North America.

“You can take a lot with you. Many national coaches were here,” said BVB sports director Sebastian Kehl: “Some associations have informed themselves. And that will certainly take place with the DFB afterwards.” It is elementary what framework conditions you choose, such as training times. “I think the organization around the team is extremely important.”

A base camp guarantees no gates or victories, but it can shape the spirit in the Tross, which consists of players, coaches, supervisors and many other people around the team. Bavaria and Dortmund had their basis in Florida. The Munich luxury resort in the Disneyland from Orlando with the ESPN sports facility as a training center offered everything from top places to golf course to the pool. “A warehouse collar,” said Goretzka, not noticing.

The lawn as a problem for “high-speed football”

Only after the group draw in December, probably at a mega show in the Las Vegas player paradise, will Nagelsmann also know where the first three out of eight hoped-for World Cup games including finals take place.

One problem that the European teams at the Club World Cup significantly complained about were the playing fields. “You need other conditions for high-speed football,” said Kovac. The grass type is different, the places were not watered as intensely. Dortmund’s national player Pascal Groß would “wish you play in every stadium on the same lawn”.