National soccer team: world class thanks to greed concept: “taken to the extreme”

As an eyewitness, Joachim Löw was happy about seven fantastic goal pranks. Lothar Matthäus went into raptures on the TV microphone with superlatives. The day after the great football fun against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Julian Nagelsmann was happy to treat his unleashed good-mood combo to a bit of leisure time and a sociable team evening.

However, the national coach rejected personal hero worship after his record victory and first place in the Nations League as premature. A savior? “That’s not me,” said the national coach briefly and succinctly, lowering his gaze for a moment as if he wanted to collect himself and then immediately awarded Jamal Musiala and Co. the next greedy task. “2024 is not over yet,” said Nagelsmann. Hungary shouldn’t think that a national soccer team is now coming to Budapest for a company outing.

“Every win is good for us and we also want to improve against the Hungarians, against whom it seems like nothing is at stake,” Joshua Kimmich made clear before the end of an eventful international season. The captain himself can be there on Tuesday (8.45 p.m./ZDF) despite the brief ankle shock.

Nagelsmann deserves a lot of credit for the transformation from a disturbingly bad crisis team in November 2023 to a merciless goal machine in November 2024. In three sentences he formulated the mentality that he successfully conveyed to his players: “For me it’s a lot about feeling this greed that you absolutely want to win. It helps if you hate losing. Everyone who can lose will never be a real winner.” In Freiburg there were real winners on the pitch and on the sidelines.

Germany is a realistic title contender for the 2026 World Cup in America. The national team has even improved after the quarter-final pain at the home European Championship and, as a team around Kimmich, Musiala and Florian Wirtz, has emancipated itself from old greats such as Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer. Five wins, one draw, of course no defeat and 17:3 goals are recorded in this golden autumn.

World class as a keyword

The buzzword that made the rounds after the 7-0 record win against A-League relegated Bosnia-Herzegovina was: world class. Here, too, Nagelsmann put things into perspective. “We’re getting closer,” said the 37-year-old. But he doesn’t see himself as having reached his goal yet, despite the recent football celebrations. “It’s always difficult to evaluate because you don’t play against every opponent. There will be better opponents than today, but the development is good.”

The gala of goals from Musiala, Kai Havertz, Leroy Sané and the double packers Wirtz and Tim Kleindienst was so beautiful that Nagelsmann was even asked about a parallel to one of the greatest moments in German football history. This 7-0 was perhaps reminiscent of the legendary 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup semi-final against Brazil in terms of ease and joy of playing?

The national coach didn’t want to go along with this comparison completely, but he didn’t think it was completely wrong either. “The importance of the game was much greater back then, but we also had the desire today,” said Nagelsmann. What’s crucial for him is that the hunt for the ball has been “taken to the extreme” in a positive sense. Like that legendary night in Belo Horizonte in 2014. How fitting that world champion coach Löw was in the stadium in Freiburg. “He certainly felt quite entertained,” said the national coach about his predecessor as a guest in the stands.

Decent entertainment is a decent understatement for what the national team offered with their scoring spree. Next year it will be about the first proof of title eligibility in the Nations League World Cup test run. In any case, the course is set correctly. When the draw for the quarter-finals of the Nations League takes place on Friday, no one wants the German team to be the knockout contender.

Nagelsmann’s only big disappointment of the year serves as the driving force. “We played a decent European Championship at home, but were still eliminated in the quarter-finals, so there’s a lot of mystery in that we want to progress,” he made it clear.

Musiala is an incredible stroke of luck

Musiala needed 80 seconds. Then the first moment of happiness was perfect with his new header goal. Nagelsmann sees the 21-year-old as more than just the football wizard he is currently being celebrated as everywhere. The Munich native impresses the national coach with a personality trait that makes him a model student.

“Many young players who want to become professionals can do well with him. He listens extremely well, he always wants to know everything, gets scenes, wants to get better. He doesn’t have the status mindset that he’s the superstar and nothing more learns, he is extremely open and in the end he rewards himself,” Nagelsmann enthused.

The competition works

Anyone who wanted to learn something about the character and competition in this national team had to take a closer look after a good hour. Musiala, Wirtz, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Robert Andrich out. Serge Gnabry, Sané, Benjamin Henrichs and Felix Nmecha come in. And nothing changes. Germany continues to play for speed and goals.

“It’s 5-0 and we’re bringing four players and all four are giving full throttle, that’s a very good step,” said Nagelsmann. A feeling that Tim Kleindienst also shared after his debut goals. “Everyone’s up for it, everyone’s interested, they’re pushing themselves to the limit. It’s nice to see that it’s working out like that.”