European Football Championship Despite the danger of yellow cards: Nagelsmann does not plan any changes to the starting eleven
Four German players are facing a ban. But national coach Julian Nagelsmann remains calm. Photo
© Christian Charisius/dpa
Four German players are facing a suspension at the European Championships at home. But national coach Julian Nagelsmann remains calm ahead of the last group match.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann wants to field the same starting eleven in the national football team’s third group match at the European Championships at home against Switzerland, despite four players having received a yellow card.
As of now, there are no plans for personnel changes, said the 36-year-old at the press conference: “I’m not taking the yellow card situation into account because I trust the squad. The players should give it their all until the rule bans them. And then another player will come in who will do just as well.”
Four German players are threatened with a possible suspension in the round of 16 in the duel for group victory with Switzerland on Sunday (9 p.m./ARD/Magenta TV) in Frankfurt am Main. Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich and Jonathan Tah received yellow cards against Scotland. Antonio Rüdiger and Maximilian Mittelstädt were cautioned against Hungary.
After two yellow cards, a player must miss a game at the European Championships. Single yellow cards will be deleted after the quarter-finals.
“In general, it is important at national team level to maintain the rhythm. We don’t have that much training time and playing time together,” said Nagelsmann, who had already nominated the same starting eleven in the first two group matches against Scotland (5-1) and Hungary (2-0).
Nagelsmann has major lawn concerns
Nagelsmann heavily criticized the poor condition of the pitch in the Frankfurt stadium. “I’m not worried about the footballing aspect, but rather about the risk of injury to the players,” said the national coach. “If things go badly,” they could “end up with cruciate ligament tears.”
The grass in the Frankfurt stadium has been criticized for months; it has obviously grown badly, is very slippery and is breaking off in large pieces. This had already led to many slips by the players during the European Championship test match between the DFB team and the Netherlands in March (2:1). It was a similar story in the European Championship match between England and Denmark (1:1). Nagelsmann has no hope of any change until the match on Sunday.
“I don’t want to offend anyone, but it’s just not good,” said the national coach, comparing it to a car: “It’s like driving with summer tires in winter. That’s not so good for accident prevention,” said the 36-year-old. But the grass should not be an excuse for the performance. In the district league, the grass is often worse and yet you can sometimes see good football there, said Nagelsmann. Defender Jonathan Tah did not want to overstate the issue. “The pitch will be what it is, we have to adapt as best we can,” said the Leverkusen player.
dpa
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