Márton Dárdai did not play in the first two matches of the German team at the U21 European Championship, so he missed the anemic 1-1 draw against Israel and the painful 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic. As a result, the German national team had to fight for its life in the last match against England, and this time coach Antonio Di Salvo named Pál Dárdai’s middle son, the central defender of Hertha, in the starting line-up.
Márton Dárdai can play for Hertha in the German second division next season. Photo: Hertha BSC
Márton Dárdai was on the field the whole time against the English, who won a smooth 2-0 victory, the difference could have been bigger. The Germans practically had no chance, so they were eliminated as the last place in their group with only one point. This is a similar humiliation to what the adult national team suffered at the 2018 World Cup, since the U21s came to this European Championship as the defending champions – in 2021, they won the age-group tournament, which was partly organized by Hungary.
Class difference and German mediocrity
– The English were at least one class better than us, many of their players have great potential – he stated Di Salvo, the coach of the Germans after the elimination. – We didn’t start the tournament well, the 1-1 draw against Israel was a disappointment, since we were the flag, and then we suffered a bitter defeat against the Czechs. The defeat against England was fully justified and deserved. We all envisioned this Euro very differently. Now we have to analyze this tournament very critically.
Others have already done this. The Germans played their matches in Georgia, where the Kicker according to a local reporter commented on their elimination with the following sentence: – German football must be careful not to sink into mediocrity.
It is certain that the present and future of German football looks increasingly dark, as the senior national team has practically been in a huge hole since the aforementioned 2018 World Cup, and was also eliminated in the group stage at last year’s World Cup in Qatar. Under the management of Hans-Dieter Flick, the national team is currently preparing for next year’s domestic European Championship with no stakes, and is achieving terrible results: it has lost to Colombia, Poland and Belgium in its last four games, and it has only played against Ukraine.
“All the English counterattacks were dangerous, we were very lucky,” said the midfielder of the German U21s, Tom Krauss, who was last on loan at Schalke as a Leipzig player. – We deserved to be eliminated, we don’t have the quality that England has. We have to say this honestly.
Márton Dárdai’s career would be boosted by the national team
Márton Dárdai is currently in the German national team, but the 21-year-old defender must slowly decide which country he wants to play for as an adult. His career in the German youth national team is coming to an end, as the German team failed to qualify for next year’s Olympic football competition together with the U21 European Championship. In theory, he could still play at the next U21 European Championship in 2025, because then he will be 23 years old, he was still 21 at the start of the qualifiers in March, but at that age the question of the adult national team is more interesting. As a dual citizen, there is no obstacle in principle to Dárdai switching to Hungarian colors as long as he does not play in a match for the German adult national team.
The defender of Hertha can be important for German football, which currently suffers from a big shortage of central defenders, but at the same time it is not at all certain that he will get the opportunity among the adults, since so far he has not been considered a regular in the U21 national team, moreover, according to the current situation, he can only play in the German second division in the colors of Hertha in the following season. It is unlikely that Flick will bring in a new player from there in the near future, especially since it has been declared that due to the poor results, the experimentation must end.
Dárda’s career would clearly be boosted by the national team, since, according to Transfermarkt, the player previously valued at six million euros is currently worth “only” 3.5 million. Even with this, he would be among the ten most valuable players among Hungarians, and in terms of central defenders, he would be third after Attila Szalai (Fenerbahce, 14 million) and Willi Orbán (Leipzig, 10 million). Ádám Lang is usually the third player in the Hungarian national team, which often consists of three inside defenders. On the one hand, he is already 30 years old, and on the other hand, the value of the player who plays soccer in Cyprus is only 700,000 euros. There would be a place for the Hertha defender in the Hungarian squad.
Marco Rossi had previously invited Dárdai to the Hungarian national team, but then he did not receive a response from the player. Soon, the question of the national team may be raised again, but this time it will probably not be asked by Rossi – now it should be Márton Dárdai.
Cover photo: Márton Dárdai is currently in German colors (Photo: Europress/AFP/Anke Waelischmiller)
2023-06-30 18:52:48
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