41 days after the World Cup from the national team, Joshua Kimmich takes position – and that in Qatar. The class representative of the 1995 generation “can’t just tick off” three botched tournaments.
Joshua Kimmich even managed to come up with a funny answer not far from the Chalifa stadium during his World Cup survey. After the third botched tournament in a row, he would probably have to “just play until I’m 45” in order to experience good and successful DFB times with the national soccer team.
At this point at the latest, it was clear at FC Bayern Munich’s training camp in Qatar that the 27-year-old would not disappear into the mental World Cup “hole” that he had feared immediately after the next German World Cup disaster on December 1st. “Of course, the statements immediately after the game were very emotional, because something like that affects me, because you have big goals, because we had big goals,” Kimmich said 41 days later back in Qatar.
World Cup preliminary round in Russia “almost more difficult”
Time heals wounds, they say. Kimmich processed the failure in the weeks of vacation that followed, even if he “couldn’t just forget and tick it off”. Especially not him, the professional who oscillates between ambition and doggedness on the soccer field. Kimmich is the class representative of what is supposedly the next “Golden DFB Generation” around the national players born in 1995 and 1996 such as Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka, Niklas Süle or Leroy Sané, who spent his 27th birthday in Bavaria’s winter camp on Wednesday.
The tasks as a father of three now helped him during his vacation by the sea, Kimmich said. “To be honest, I didn’t necessarily fall into a hole. I think that’s partly due to my three children.” They distracted him, demanded his attention. “It was difficult to fall into any hole. You have other tasks there.” In 2018, after the first World Cup preliminary round in Russia, it was “almost more difficult”.
At that time, “very little was right” in the German team, which had arrived as world champions. In the 2021 European Championship round of 16 against England, it was a “fifty-fifty game” that was lost at London’s Wembley Stadium. “And now not everything was great. But 30 minutes against Japan cost us the tournament,” says Kimmich. A 1:0 became a 1:2 in the World Cup opening game.
At the new start towards the home European Championship in 2024, Kimmich will of course be in a responsible position again and maybe even – after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer’s long-term injury – be there as the new captain. “And then we will hopefully attack from March,” announced the midfield boss.
Top athletes always look ahead. Also Kimmich, who seven weeks earlier in the Al-Khour stadium had spoken close to tears about the “most difficult day of my career”. But even then he didn’t think about resigning or giving up. “You don’t have too many chances – especially with the national team,” he said now.
Kimmich seems even more ambitious than before
Kimmich will already be 30 when the DFB selection plays the opening game of the European Championship on June 14, 2024 in Munich. He’ll be 32 at the next World Cup. But that’s still a long way off for him. Now he’s wearing the Bayern jersey again. In which he became the 2020 Champions League winner and 2021 Club World Champion – he is (also) a winner in that. He’s highly motivated for the second half of the darned World Cup season. “We still have big goals, a few titles are still up for grabs.” The triple!
He regularly stands out in Bayern training on the Aspire facility. Kimmich wants to win every competition, no matter how small. On Tuesday evening he was still keenly practicing shots on goal together with his DFB colleagues Jamal Musiala and Gnabry. The Bayern trio kept shooting at goal with left and right. “Goal risk, I can improve there,” said Kimmich. He seems even more ambitious than before.
“It’s in us to keep going,” explained Thomas Müller when he was asked in Doha about the possible negative effects of the poor course of the World Cup. Failures also spur on the veteran: “We at Bayern are the top players who can and must deal with the pressure.” Kimmich wants to remain true to himself: “I don’t have the feeling that I have to change.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
