When Robert Andrich ran onto the field at the beginning of the second half with his unmistakable blonde hair, the usual search game began in the stands. If Andrich were substituted now, who would have to stay out? A very obvious possibility presented itself, especially since national coach Julian Nagelsmann has already come quite a long way on his path to becoming a pragmatist. Nagelsmann had definitely decided on a so-called positional change; the defensive midfielder Andrich would have to give way to one of the other two defensive midfielders, Aleksandar Pavlovic or Angelo Stiller. However, a second look revealed that Pavlovic and Stiller were running onto the field just a few meters behind Andrich. So would Andrich play in defense, as he sometimes does in Leverkusen?
Defensive midfielder Andrich ended up playing in defensive midfield alongside Angelo Stiller. And Aleksandar Pavlovic took over the position that used to be the dream position of all midfielders, the ten, the place where the great conductors have their desk. For Pavlovic, however, this did not necessarily amount to a promotion, as his conducting skills are better displayed in the rooms at the back. Pavlovic can play great passes, but he is not an offensive mind who distributes his flashes of inspiration up front. He is someone who prefers to think about the big picture from further back and organize the path of the ball to the offensive minds. Nagelsmann knows this, of course, but what should he do? After he had to take attacking Florian Wirtz off the field with a sore inner ligament, his decimated squad left him no other option. Except Pavlovic.
“Alex and I had a lot of control over the game in the first half,” says Angelo Stiller
So he only saw what Nagelsmann wanted to see for 45 minutes, but that was enough to at least get an idea. Nagelsmann is currently the national coach, but because the next big tournament, the 2026 World Cup, won’t take place for another two years, he also occasionally works as a futurologist. On the one hand, he has to coach the current situation in which players like Pascal Groß, 33, and Robert Andrich, 30, are in command of the back midfield, succeeding Toni Kroos, but it is also part of his “responsibility as a coach, not everything just falls on players who will be 35 in two years.” So the national coach has to do one thing without neglecting the other. He has to convey his appreciation to Groß/Andrich and at the same time prepare Pavlovic, 20, and Stiller, 23, for a possible takeover of the official duties. The DFB is secretly saying that Pavlovic/Stiller are already the dream duo in a projected starting eleven for the 2026 World Cup. So perhaps it will be said later that the Middle Ring of the Munich Lawn was the place where the Munich-born Pavlovic and Stiller first met.
“Alex and I had a lot of control over the game in the first half,” said Stiller after a particularly serious defensive performance. Vice-captain Antonio Rüdiger later praised the great technical skills and even greater calmness of the two future sixes, who are on the verge of becoming Julian Nagelsmann’s present sixties.
