The temperature wasn’t far above zero degrees, but no one was cold in Europa-Park Freiburg. The German fans clapped, jumped up and performed their entire repertoire. Stand up if you are German!, Oh how beautiful that is!, German-Schland, German-Schlandagain and again Major Tom. In between, the crowd even dared to play the immodest classic, which, however, has not been heard in recent years: We are number 1 in the world.
The fans sang about ninety minutes of attacking football, a great German victory and a team that can’t get enough of scoring goals even in the freezing cold. And in the block someone was waving a large flag with the Fraktur lettering “Loreley”.
You don’t know what it means. Does the 7-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina say anything about the German team being world leaders again? But what can be said: In the icy cold, in the furthest corners of the country – wherever they go, the eleven spread a lot of fun. If between Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz the ball is running, the time for connoisseurs begins. This is a really hot trio.
Musiala heads into the goal
That’s how it went this time: first attack, first goal. Joshua Kimmich chipped with feeling from the right, and Musiala turned on his rotor blades and headed well into the goal. As he cheered, he pointed to his head and acted surprised. It is slowly becoming a rule that he encounters this type.
The movement genius Musiala was the player the audience admired most. He weaved through his opponents, played the ball behind his back, shot dangerously, and passed the ball excellently on several occasions Havertz. Because the artist Musiala doesn’t have any antics and is constantly on the move, this makes him even more popular.
The masterpiece of elegance that evening, however, was achieved by the other two of the trio. Havertz drove the ball into the penalty area and played a one-two with Wirtz at full speed, in narrow spaces and at complicated angles. 3-0 through Havertz, who finally got the ball over the line for Germany again. Wonderfully playful football, efficient too.
Wirtz’s 4-0 was a tricky free kick. He hit the ball in the middle. As a result, he seemed to fly straight towards the goal, but then took a small turn because there was no rotation in the air. That’s physics. At 5-0, Wirtz pushed the ball in again, this time all three of the trio were involved in the goal.
Team is on the ball again
Before the 6-0, substitute Leroy Sané reminded everyone with an improvised and skillful ball-taking move that, purely theoretically, he had the ability to turn the trio into a hot quartet. Tim Kleindienst will never be a hot quintet, but he was right twice. The former Heidenheimer’s first goals for his country.
The 7-0 win in the last home game of 2024 rounds off the national team’s big comeback this year. In the final phase, Flick had opportunities to score against every opponent against Germany. Now the team is so on its toes again that teams from the second or third row have little chance of falling under the wheels on bad days.
The team from Bosnia was significantly weaker than expected and than in the first leg in October. She couldn’t bring any sporting joy to her many and loud fans. Nevertheless, Bosnia, a World Cup participant ten years ago, is not San Marino or Estonia. In Freiburg, coach Sergej Barbarez had at least three Bundesliga players at his disposal. Never before has a team in the six-year-old Nations League scored so many goals in one game. Record victory for Germany.
“There’s still a long way to go”
Julian Nagelsmann was asked at the press conference whether Germany was once again the world leader. They got “closer,” he said. “The development is good, but there is still a long way to go.” The true class can only be demonstrated against stronger teams. But he likes that his team always wants to show full performance, even in November when other competitions are more important. Whether he sees himself as the savior of German football. “That’s not me.”
This time it was the DFB spokeswoman who asked the national coach about non-sporting matters. It was the talk in the days leading up to the game. Whether he thinks he distracted people from their worries that evening. “You shouldn’t take football so seriously, a 7-0 win can’t replace good political decisions,” said Julian Nagelsmann. But he has nothing to wish for in terms of football. “It was good entertainment.”
The temperature wasn’t far above zero degrees, but no one was cold in Europa-Park Freiburg. The German fans clapped, jumped up and performed their entire repertoire. Stand up if you are German!, Oh how beautiful that is!, German-Schland, German-Schlandagain and again Major Tom. In between, the crowd even dared to play the immodest classic, which, however, has not been heard in recent years: We are number 1 in the world.
The fans sang about ninety minutes of attacking football, a great German victory and a team that can’t get enough of scoring goals even in the freezing cold. And in the block someone was waving a large flag with the Fraktur lettering “Loreley”.
