Hertha Berlin’s sports director Fredi Bobic took a jab at some of the Bundesliga’s bigger clubs — including Bayern Munich — for their lack of representation for the German team at the Olympics. Historically, the best players have tended to skip out on participating in the Olympics for their respective national teams. However, some would like to see Germany bring home some silverware after another disappointing tournament.
“It’s actually a shame. Usually you have to be proud of sending one or the other away. It must be worth it to us to send a good German team there. In the end we all want to be successful. Then it goes without saying,” Bobic told MagentaTV.
In the Bundesliga, only Hertha, Union Berlin, and Augsburg provided more than one player in the German Olympic squad. Meanwhile, there are no players from Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund.
Stefan Kuntz, Germany’s U-21 coach who brought the German U-21 squad to victory at this summer’s U-21 European Championship, told picture: “The willingness to support the Olympic team varied in the Bundesliga. Unfortunately, some big clubs didn’t want to help as hoped, so I’m all the more pleased about the support of the other clubs.”
As much as we would all love to see Germany win every trophy possible, there are some legitimate reasons for withholding players from playing. This time is crucial for preparing for the upcoming Bundesliga season, which begins in August. Not to mention, these players finally have a chance to spend some time with their families. These players deserve some downtime, but perhaps they should be allowed to make that decision themselves.
It should also be noted that the Gold medal game will be taking place on July 7th, meaning that these participants would miss the first round of the DFB-Pokal, should they advance that far. Regardless, these clubs surely don’t need their entire best XI to secure a win in the first round of the Pokal.
It is clear that Bobic wants to see the players allowed to go and participate in the games, but it is uncertain which players would actually want to participate if allowed. It is unknown what conversations are going on behind the scenes. Lastly, the largest issue is fatigue and injury. No team wants to see their best player get injured on international duty and missing out on a significant chunk of the season. These top clubs will want to start their seasons off on the right foot, and who can blame them for that?
Do you think these top clubs should be sending more players to the Olympics? Let us know!
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