It wasn’t enough for the first title under Christian Wück again. The DFB team lost the Nations League final in Madrid 0-3 (0-0) despite a good performance in the first half. It is the second setback for the German footballers after their exit from the European Championships in the semi-finals. The world champions from Spain win again.
From a German perspective, we shouldn’t make the mistake of changing too much about our own style of play in the future. Because they were convincing in these two finals – in complete contrast to the recent past. There was a deserved defeat on Tuesday evening and the defensive performance can certainly be criticized. Thanks to the offensive approach, we were significantly closer to a triumph in the first 60 minutes than was the case with the 0-1 defeat in the European Championship semi-finals.
While Germany had come this far at the tournament in the summer primarily due to their mentality and great resilience, the playful element was now added to this strength. The footballing approach was no longer just to stand deep, counterattack and hardly risk anything. Rather, the German team played with significantly more courage in their own possession of the ball and pressed high more often.
A development that national coach Wück had already started in the semi-final duels with France and continued on Tuesday. The fact that this plan was chosen against an opponent like Spain shows more self-confidence than before – both in the coaching team and among the German national players. Although the approach led to a bitter setback, one game alone should not make us forget the previous successes.
In the last two courses, the German players have taken the next step in football and have at least reduced the gap to the top three in the world a little. This development is still on shaky ground, especially if the German team is slowing down even slightly. It still points in the right direction.