The draw for the European Championship groups gave Germany viable opponents. The knockout round is mandatory. A commentary classification.
Hamburg – The groups have been drawn! Germany will face Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland in front of their home crowd at the 2024 European Championship. Reaching the knockout rounds becomes an obligation. A commentary by RUHR24 editor Malte Schindel.
Germany breathes a sigh of relief after the European Championship draw: There can be no excuses
The DFB team was spared. Germany will not play in one of the hammer groups next summer – these instead consist of Spain, Croatia, Italy and Albania (Group B) as well as France, the Netherlands, Austria and the winner of the play-off round with Poland, Wales, Estonia and Finland ( Group D).
There can therefore be no excuses for the German national team around national coach Julian Nagelsmann. The German selection must succeed in triggering a wave of euphoria in their own country at the European Championship opener against Scotland on June 14th in Munich. The guests are only in 36th place in the FIFA world rankings, while Germany is in 16th place.
Another positive thing is that the German national team has never lost a competitive game against Scotland in its long history. Meanwhile, the duels with the Hungarians were less successful.
Germany will face Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland in Group A at the 2024 European Championship
The current number 27 in the world rankings only suffered a competitive defeat against the DFB team. This was in the 1954 World Cup final.
The most prominent name in the Hungarian squad is that of Dominik Szoboszlai, who last played for RB Leipzig and now plays for Liverpool FC, the club of BVB legend Jürgen Klopp. With a market value of 70 million euros (transfermarkt.de), Szoboszlai is only surpassed in the current DFB squad by Joshua Kimmich (75), Leroy Sané (75) and Florian Wirtz (85).
However, the German national team includes other stars, while the difference among the guests is immense. At 18 million euros, Milos Kerkez has the second highest market value in Marco Rossi’s team.
EM 2024: An uncomfortable Hungary awaits Germany
The Hungarians’ strengths lie in their collective appearance, their work against the ball and their quick transition game. Germany should get a piece of this: Nagelsmann recently dismantled the DFB team, complaining that he had seen a team with “a few lone fighters” in the 2-0 defeat against Austria.
If the national coach manages to form a unit by the start of the tournament, the duel with Hungary should be uncomfortable, but still victorious. Similar to the encounter with Switzerland on the last group match day.
The European Championship draw gives Germany a duel with Switzerland: There is unrest among the “Nati”.
There is unrest in the “Nati”. Coach Murat Yakin is criticized even though he helped his German neighbors take part in the European Championship.
The reason is the recent performances. The 18th in the world rankings was only able to win one of the last seven qualifying games, losing 1-0 against Romania and previously playing in a draw three times in a row.
Nevertheless, Switzerland has some familiar faces in its ranks, such as BVB keeper Gregor Kobel and Manuel Akanji, who formerly played for Borussia Dortmund and won the treble with Manchester City last season. Switzerland can definitely give the DFB team a leg up.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann expects “a plan” at the start of the European Championship
Therefore, a healthy dose of respect is appropriate, but by no means fear (of a possible elimination in the preliminary round). However, Nagelsmann’s statements can be interpreted accordingly. “The opening game will be a blast,” he said immediately after the draw for the European Championship groups on Saturday evening in Hamburg.
The national coach definitely still has to get some problems under control, it’s not for nothing that the DFB team recently lost to Turkey 2:3 and Austria 0:2, but the quality of the squad is basically there and is much higher than in the German group. opponents. In addition to the first and second place teams in each group, the four best third-place teams reach the knockout round.
It’s time to believe in your own strengths, shake off the latest results and be happy about the presumed luck of the draw and start the 2024 European Championship year with euphoria. The elimination in the group phase at the 2022 Winter World Cup has been forgotten, the appearances in the Nations League no longer play a role – but now there has to be a German exclamation mark again. Otherwise, even the last fans are likely to turn away from the DFB team.
2023-12-03 18:56:44
#excuses
