The national team is back in the “home ground”. Four of them share the wooden houses in the forest. But the focus is on training and the penultimate European Championship test on Monday.
Rain, lots of rain. Weatherproof clothing is currently in high demand for the kit manager of the national football team. Just as at the atmospheric reception in front of around 4,000 fans upon arrival at the tournament headquarters in Herzogenaurach, goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and several of his fellow field players also protected themselves against the wetness from above the next morning during the first training session on the grounds of the DFB equipment supplier Adidas.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann wore a cap with his white rain jacket. Young star Florian Wirtz walked with an umbrella the short way from the accommodation in the “Home Ground” to the brand new training pitch, which can easily cope with the water. Thomas Müller, in a good mood even in the bad weather, came to work wearing a white fisherman’s hat.
Two more friendly wins “to stay in the flow”
This progressed on the day of the Champions League final in London with a tactical unit involving the four European Championship players Niclas Füllkrug, Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid). “You can feel that the people are ready,” said Bayern professional Joshua Kimmich about the rush of fans, during which it was heavily raining. The anticipation for the home tournament is growing day by day.
After moving from the training camp in Thuringia to the tournament headquarters in Franconia, the national coach has begun the fine-tuning phase. On Monday (8.45 p.m./ARD) the friendly against European Championship participant Ukraine will take place in Nuremberg, followed four days later by the tournament dress rehearsal against Greece in Mönchengladbach.
After the successful change in mood in the tough tests in March against France (2-0) and the Netherlands (2-1), Kimmich is determined to build on this. “It all depends on winning. We definitely want to win the two tests to stay in the flow,” he said on Saturday. After the three tournament flops in 2018, 2021 and 2022, with a lost opening game each time, it is all about getting off to a successful start on June 14 against Scotland.
Neuer “in a positive mood” ahead of comeback in DFB goal
Manuel Neuer shares Kimmich’s view. “The two test matches are very important for us. This is the final report. If we get positive results, the first match will be a little easier.” The 38-year-old is currently in the spotlight. After a year and a half without an international match since the early World Cup exit in Qatar, the Bayern goalkeeper, who was injured for months afterwards, will be back in the DFB goal for the first time in Nuremberg. “I’m in a positive mood,” said Neuer ahead of his eighth tournament as number one.
A number of national players feel right at home in Adidas’ “Home Ground”. It was also the base camp for the last European Championship. “It didn’t take long to settle in again,” reported Kimmich. The new training ground has “improved the conditions even further.”
Four players each live in a wooden house with four rooms and separate entrances. The occupancy was also based on the playing positions. Kimmich lives with Maximilian Mittelstädt from Stuttgart and David Raum and Benjamin Henrichs from Leipzig in the full-back house. For Neuer, this means that he is staying under the same roof as the other goalkeepers Alexander Nübel, Oliver Baumann and Marc-André ter Stegen. The latter, however, is arriving in Franconia as a latecomer on Monday.
Source: Stern
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