Bundesliga: game culture now also in the league midfield – sport

With a little imagination, you could imagine national coach Joachim Löw on Saturday evening as a TV viewer on the couch, defiantly clenching a fist in the pocket of a pair of comfortable and elegant sweatpants. His favorite club, SC Freiburg, has finally won again, 2-0 against Bielefeld. And then maybe two other games did not come so inconveniently in a debate that will stay with him for a few months. Dortmund’s 1: 5 against Stuttgart, Bayern’s 1: 1 against Union Berlin, each with Mats Hummels and Thomas Müller as well as Jérôme Boateng in the starting line-up: Is it then perhaps not in such a hurry to lift the non-nomination requirement that Löw has suggested everywhere becomes?

Well, that is admittedly a somewhat bogus conclusion after this week, but it was actually a good one for German professional football. Firstly, because nobody has thought of continuing to play in the Bundesliga if the country is about to shut down completely due to the pandemic. He hadn’t heard any signals, said Gladbach’s manager Max Eberl – and it should stay that way.

The second reason why it was a good week for football had to do with Löw: he spoke in front of a camera in an office in the DFB headquarters, visible and audible to the nation that had previously thought he had gone underground. His first public appearance since the embarrassing 6-0 draw against Spain was generally interpreted as combative. The third reason: three days later it was clear that all Bundesliga clubs in the European Cup had qualified for the next round, particularly impressive Borussia Mönchengladbach in a Champions League group with Real Madrid and Inter Milan, but also RB Leipzig, which against Paris Saint -Germain and Manchester United had to pass. Four German teams in the second round of the premier class, that was last in 2014 after the World Cup.

Finally, the fourth reason: Saturday’s game day. Often, and often rightly, the level of football in the Bundesliga has been criticized in recent years because many teams prefer to play against rather than with the ball, rather cautiously than courageously. And now, a nice snapshot, there are two clubs in Union Berlin and VfB Stuttgart that are investing their surely not in abundance of resources in the development of gaming culture. Both teams were rewarded for this on Saturday against the tired favorites, Stuttgart even more than Berlin. And for both of them it wasn’t a success for a day, but rather the continuation of a trend. VfB is even trying to get promoted to a football with appealing ball possession phases – that would have recently been dismissed as an impossibility.

At this point, it should not be ignored that it could be rather bad news for German football if a potential competitor of FC Bayern like Borussia Dortmund should once again deal sloppily with the great opportunities in the squad this season. The VfB victory indicated that too. On the other hand: If Joachim Löw can act combative after a 6-0 draw, maybe Lucien Favre will somehow manage after a 5-1 draw.

– .