Matthias Sammer incisively analyzes the DFB team’s failure at the World Cup. He criticizes the welfare culture and lacks the unconditional will to succeed. But Summer also shows solutions.
Matthias Sammer counts with the German national team after leaving for the World Cup. The former DFB sporting director made a particularly clear comparison between the DFB team and the Argentines, who were criticized for an unfair style of play. Germany was eliminated in the round of 16, Argentina advanced to the final.
“I prefer their style of play to what I see now in the German team,” Sammer told the Zeit newspaper: “I don’t see anything in them anymore, neither athletically nor psychologically. This gives rise to a redefinition of the term “helplessness.” Sammer criticized the lack of physical fitness and lack of game idea: “But a much more serious impression is that our team lacks the absolute will to win.”
Sammer is convinced that the most important aspects of the German national team have faded into the background in recent years. He says: “As in previous years, this tournament was no longer performance-oriented. It was about feeling good, dishonesty played a role, conflicts were not considered.”
Sammer continued: “We tried to achieve something extraordinary, according to the rules of maximum comfort and satisfaction. This will not work in sports or in life. The team is a reflection of our society. Sometimes there is more appearance than reality.”
“Klopp is the right man for this job”
In his opinion, the DFB should give clear instructions from the children’s football national team. Sammer: “To achieve this, the DFB must finally understand that it must take on a leadership role in terms of content. He needs to find the right people who will set comprehensive guidelines for content work (…) We have now come to the point where we are ashamed of our traditional strengths, the notorious German virtues.”
His requirement: more basic endurance, more basic technique and focused personal development. Sammer is also signaling his willingness to help German football with content. But he also says: “For Matthias Sammer it is not a question of function or position, but of content.”
He said of the newly appointed national team coach, Jurgen Klopp: “Klopp is the right man for the job. Jurgen stands for something physical and fast. He has a clear understanding of playing with and against the ball. He has an aura and authority. He also knows that as a national team coach he will no longer be involved in the day-to-day training work in the future and will be dependent on what happens in the pyramid, working with the youth below him.”