In his podcast, Toni Kroos talks to his brother Felix about Germany’s unfortunate defeat against Spain. He praises the national coach and recognizes a big difference to previous tournaments.
After Germany’s European Championship exit and his retirement, Toni Kroos praised national coach Julian Nagelsmann for his work around the European Championship at home. At the European Championship, especially after the elimination in the quarter-finals against Spain last Friday, it became clear that the squad was “a group of good guys”, “not just good footballers”.
“Someone like Julian can feel confirmed in how he put it together,” said Kroos in the new episode of his podcast “Einfach mal Luppen” with his brother Felix Kroos. “These are situations in which you get to know each other better,” said Kroos about the return journey from Stuttgart to Herzogenaurach to the team headquarters, where they sometimes talked in groups “until 6 a.m.”
Different feeling than 2018 and 2022
Unlike at previous tournaments, Nagelsmann and his team managed to spark euphoria. “This time I really had the feeling that 82 million people had the dream of winning this home European Championship,” said Kroos. That was different at the 2018 World Cup tournaments in Russia and 2022 in Qatar.
In general, he sees the DFB team on the right path. “We may not yet be the better team for 90 minutes. You can’t expect that against an opponent like that. But everyone left everything on the pitch,” said the 34-year-old, for whom the 1:2 defeat after extra time was the last game of his career. He said they felt again that “willpower plus quality can bring special things.”
Source: Stern

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