2023-09-09 23:04:38
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 minutes ago, Updated now
Japan crushes Germany at Wolfsburg. LISI NIESNER / REUTERS
Nothing is going well for the Mannschaft, beaten 4-1 by Japan at home.
Nine months before “its” Euro 2024 at home, Germany has plunged a little further into the crisis, humiliated by Japan (4-1) on Saturday evening in Wolfsburg, the fourth defeat in five matches which increasingly weakens Hansi Flick. Germany’s two friendly matches in September against Japan and France were supposed to launch the reconquest of the hearts of Mannschaft supporters, but the disenchantment is growing as Hansi Flick’s men continue to perform poorly .
The boos and whistles of the supporters become more and more audible at the end of each German match, and Wolfsburg was no exception, for the supporters who remained in the stadium while a game did not didn’t even wait for the final whistle to leave. A few “Hansi raus!” (“Hansi out!”) even sounded after the fourth Japanese goal in added time.
Beaten by Belgium (3-2), Poland (1-0), Colombia (2-0) and now Japan, the Germans have only won once against modest Peru (2-0) , since the very traumatic elimination in the first round of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. A record that will be very difficult to improve on Tuesday in Dortmund in the Westfalenstadion against the French team, which has signed five successes in as many matches in qualifying for Euro 2024, without conceding a single goal, with an attack German player who has been lacking an international-class centre-forward for many years.
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German defense overwhelmed
On Saturday, the Germans once again displayed their enormous defensive shortcomings in the first period against the Samurai Blue, who had precipitated the Qatari disaster in December 2022 by winning in Doha (2-1). The first two Japanese goals came from their attacking right side, the left side of the German defense played by Nico Schlotterbeck which was completely overwhelmed by the attacks of Yukinari Sagawara and Junya Ito.
Sagawara completely overwhelmed Schlotterbeck to serve Ito, who beat Antonio Rüdiger to open the scoring in the 11th minute. After only a quarter of an hour of play, the first whistles from the public at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg rang out, but Leroy Sané managed to equalize in the 19th minute, at the conclusion of a beautiful movement with Ilkay Gündogan and Joshua Kimmich . Only three minutes later, with a new offensive on the right side, the Japanese regained the lead by Ayase Ueda, with a reflex flat foot to catch Marc-André ter Stegen on the wrong foot. But the action again came from the largesse of Schlotterbeck.
Ter Stegen repeatedly repelled the third Japanese goal, but could do nothing on a counter-attack at the end of the match, concluded by Takuma Asano (90th), who had already scored against Germany at the World Cup. Ao Tanaka’s fourth goal (92nd) only amplified the rout.
Under pressure after the failures of the friendly matches in March and June, Hansi Flick tried to innovate by repositioning Kimmich on the right side of the defense with a more offensive role during phases of ball possession. He also gave the captain’s armband to Gündogan, but the Germans lack a leader on the pitch.
Nine months before welcoming the European continent from June 14 to July 14, Flick’s position as coach is more than unstable, even if the German Federation is not in the habit of dismissing its coaches. Arriving in the summer of 2021 to succeed the long mandate of Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick continues to experience disillusionment and finds himself increasingly in the hot seat.
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