Not really reassured by the latest outings of the Mannschaft, the German coach is invited by public opinion to change a few players for the round of 16 against Denmark on Saturday (9 p.m.).
A furious header. A lifesaver. At the end of a third match where Germany did almost everything wrong, Niclas Füllkrug saved a point and the lead in the group against Switzerland last Sunday (1-1). A week later, an entire country is calling for the “Super Sub”, author of two goals in three appearances since the start of the Euro, to start for the round of 16 against Denmark this Saturday in Dortmund (9 p.m.).
And for good reason, the goal scored by “Die Lücke” (the gap in French, referring to the space between his teeth) changed a lot of things for the Nationalmannschaft. She was able to save her first place, therefore, and thus avoid a much more complicated match in the eighth. Because instead of the unpredictable Italy, it is the declining Denmark which will appear in the Ruhr this Saturday. And this Denmark, three small draws to reach the final phase, does not exactly look like a spoilsport.
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Follower of the five changes
«We must be careful with this extremely dangerous team.“, however insisted Rudi Völler, the sporting director of the Mannschaft. In reality, the balance of power is largely in favor of Germany, despite the shortcomings displayed against Switzerland. Difficulties experienced by the same players since the start of the competition, since Julian Nagelsmann had not chosen to rotate despite already qualifying.
Asked about the relevance of leaving the “hairdressers” on the bench in Frankfurt for the third match, the Mannschaft coach explained that he found “It is disrespectful to line up replacements to preserve the executives.“. Result, a suspended manager in defense (Jonathan Tah) and new questions, in particular linked to the role of Füllkrug, who is going through his second international competition as a substitute (1 goal in Qatar).
A friendly and above all decisive player, Niclas Füllkrug won the heart of German public opinion. Thilo Schmuelgen / REUTERS
«It is always important to have players on the bench who are capable of scoring and deciding the outcome of a match.“, greeted the former Bayern coach. Before recalling the role of the “finishers” from the bench. “We need all players. On the bench, each player can be very important for us, in all situations. But we are satisfied with the players who start the match“, insists the man who has systematically used his five changes. Unlike Didier Deschamps, to take an obvious point of comparison, Nagelsmann makes a habitual turnover from the hour mark, where he regularly brings out his nuggets Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, to name but two.
Havertz on the bench?
But this time, the coaching could well take place from the outset. According to the indiscretions of Bild , Füllkrug would have carried out the entire opposition in the incumbent camp on Thursday. “In Denmark, everyone is preparing to see Füllkrug play.adds the daily, which therefore places Dortmund’s number 9 in place of Kai Havertz in the start-elf Saturday. In central defense, his partner Nico Schlötterbeck should, barring any surprises, replace Tah and he too should play in his lair at the Westfalenstadion. In midfield, the ever-reliable Pascal Gross is in the balance with Robert Andrich, whose performance has been uneven since the start of the Euro.
A radically different player and the opposite of the historic number 9 of the German selection, Havertz would therefore bear the brunt of the national debate in Germany, and this despite the opinion, more than the pressure, of Rudi Völler.Kai is an exceptional player, he is extremely important for the team. His way of keeping the ball, of weighing on the defense, even with his head, make him a player on whom we can always count“, assures the former striker, necessarily partial to having seen “KH7” blossom at Bayer Leverkusen, where the frail striker played before crossing the Channel (Chelsea then Arsenal).
A plea that is certainly insufficient, therefore, to reverse the trend in the mind of the young coach (36 years old), who is used to meeting every evening with his staff to “brainstorm” and find solutions. The latest find therefore seems to be to press in the area, as we saw against Hungary (2-0) then Switzerland, where the game went more to the wings than during the festival against the weak Scotland in the opening (5-1), where Füllkrug had already caused a sensation, with a cannon shot in the top corner, in barely two minutes on the field. And it is there, in his natural habitat, that the presence of “Fülle”, number 9 to the former heir of the Völler or more recently Miroslav Klose, takes on its full meaning. Revealed late, the one who dreamed of the rhythm of the The Summer March (summer tale) from 2006, Mannschaft jersey on your back every day, just ask for that.
