A basketball world champion inspires Germany’s European Championship footballers. Gordon Herbert visits the DFB team. National coach Nagelsmann sees the Canadian’s actions as a role model.
Nine days before the start of their European Championship mission, the national football team received a prominent visit from a world champion to get them in the mood for the home tournament. National basketball coach Gordon Herbert met the DFB team and the coaching staff led by Julian Nagelsmann in Herzogenaurach.
The 65-year-old Canadian, who sensationally led the German basketball team to its first World Cup title last year, came to the training ground with sports director Rudi Völler and had a brief chat with Nagelsmann. Herbert then watched the DFB players, including Champions League winners Toni Kroos and Antonio Rüdiger, train. The successful coach was later to speak to the players and inspire them for the European Championship.
Herbert’s role play serves as a model for Nagelsmann
Nagelsmann is no exception. The 36-year-old has repeatedly described Herbert’s basketball team as a model for the DFB selection. Nagelsmann has certainly adopted Herbert’s approach to assigning the players specific roles, for example for the European Championships at home.
“I recently watched a documentary about German basketball players. You could see the conversations between coaches and players before the World Cup. It became clear that each individual knew his role months before the tournament,” Nagelsmann said recently.
Training break for Mittelstädt
Two days before the European Championship dress rehearsal against Greece in Mönchengladbach, Nagelsmann was able to practice for the first time with the four Champions League finalists Kroos and Rüdiger from Real Madrid as well as Niclas Füllkrug and Nico Schlotterbeck from Borussia Dortmund. During the team training at the Adidas site in Franconia, only Maximilian Mittelstädt from Stuttgart was missing from the provisional European Championship squad due to load management. Training assistant Brajan Gruda also took a break due to muscular problems.
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
