Next embarrassment for Germany’s national team

The troubled host of the upcoming European Championship lost the friendly against Japan 1:4 in Wolfsburg on Saturday. The national coach Hansi Flick, who has been in office for a good two years, will come under even greater pressure due to the next setback.

At the World Cup in Qatar, the debacle began with Germany’s elimination in the preliminary round with a defeat against Japan. Now the Asians were stronger again. They scored before the break through Junya Ito (11th) and Ayase Ueda (22nd). Leroy Sane (19th) scored the 1-1 for the Germans, who were punished twice for their defensive weaknesses in the final phase. Takuma Asano and Ao Tanaka, who play in Germany, caused a debacle in the finish for the home team, who sometimes seemed helpless.

Japan could have scored more goals early on, with German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen making several good saves. Nine months before the home tournament, the spectators repeatedly acknowledged the performance with loud whistles. Flick’s record since the World Cup has been miserable: this year there were four defeats in six games and most recently three defeats in a row. The four-time world champion will have his next test on Tuesday, in Dortmund against runner-up world champion France.

“I doubt whether we can still hold on to him now.”

“I doubt whether we can still keep him now,” said Germany’s record international player Lothar Matthäus about Flick as an RTL expert. The national coach himself described Japan as a top team with good “basics”. We currently don’t have the means to outplay their defense. “Unfortunately, one has to say, the opponent deserved to win so much,” said Flick. “I can understand if there is criticism, if it is big,” he also said.

Captain Ilkay Gündogan spoke of a bitter day. “You have to be honest and say that the Japanese were clearly better today. They were actually superior to us in all respects,” analyzed the Barcelona professional. Like Flick, Gündogan saw too many individual mistakes on the part of the German team. “At some point it’s not the coaching question, but the team that has to question itself,” said the midfielder.