The final survivor of the "Group of the Dead" is also "dead" and "euthanized". Losing 0-2 to arch-rivals England at Wembley, the German team stopped in the
European cup (e.g. soccer)
1/8 finals, this is the worst result of Lefebvre's tenure
European cup (e.g. soccer)
. Following the 2018
World Cup
After finishing bottom of the group and then
European cup (e.g. soccer)
The "sixteen", Lefebvre's self-redemption ended in a loss. But the biggest loss of the German team does not lie in the results of only 1 win in 4 matches, but in the past 3 years, some of the milestones achieved, the bottom did not show in this competition. In the midst of great results and rhetorical pressure, Löw changed to three center backs and re-called Thomas Müller and Hummels and other clinical resolutions, in exchange for greater despair. How ironic that it started with Hummels' own goal and ended with Muller missing a single shot.
0-2 loss to England halts Germany's progress
European cup (e.g. soccer)
1/8 final.
Only highlights Havertz
In terms of the 1/8 final itself, the process and the result is not really that desperate, almost everything is expected. With the group stage of the precautionary shot, you already know very well that the face of the playing style is not aggressive England, Germany is unlikely to reproduce the wonderful play of the battle against Portugal. Moreover, Southgate has also adjusted his formation from 4231 to a very targeted 343 (541 in defense), with the aim of locking down Germany's two wingbacks, Kimmich and Goossens, as Hungary did. Simply put, England is the type of team that this German team does not want to face.
Löw also made adjustments. In addition to the expected replacement of Sane with Muller from the beginning, and Goretzka to replace the low condition of Gündoğan, he also replaced the "King of London" Gnabry with Werner. In the group stage, Kylian and Gnabry were recognized as the two most desperate starters. Gündoğan, who had the best season of his career, was completely unable to utilize his skills for the national team, had no desire to move forward, and was virtually non-existent. Gnabry would have been
World Cup
After this reconstruction period of the biggest winners, is the "small fast three striker" system in the core characters, but the group stage particles no income, the first game against France only time to fly, the second round of the Portugal just forced Guerrero own goal, but also because of the offside of the grabbing point led to Gosens opening goal is invalid, the final round of the Hungary coolness! "evaporate", launching the attack and the two major role in front of the door to end did not play out.
dispatch for battle
England Premier Soccer League
, with London as his home turf for Werner, Löw's intention is clearly to move forward with counter-attacking power and produce kills with Werner's speed. Even if it didn't work, there was still Gnabry as a backer. The move nearly worked. In the 32nd minute, Havertz got the ball in the left rib and sent a straight line, Welner offside inserted into the left rib of the penalty area to receive the ball and accelerate to get rid of Stones, regretted that in the left corner of the penalty area of the low shot was attacked by Pickford legs on the ground to a "clip" to dissolve. This is the first time after the opening of the two teams must score time.
With Werner's characteristics, you wouldn't have expected him to be able to make a hit in the first place. But such a moment will often only present itself to him - Germany didn't have a similar moment in the group stage. A more calmly handled striker in front of goal might have rolled the ball up gently, thus jumping over the fallen Pickford. But Werner's choice to push the ball was reasonable, and the angle was chosen well enough to come close to a crotch shot. Let's just say it was a little short of fate.
Similar to the first game against France, Havertz was positioned slightly back in this game to be the k
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Goretzka and the third center forward, responsible for dominating the team's transition from defense to offense. Compared to any other game in the group stage, Havertz was the most lively and active in this game, with the most intense willingness to influence the game, and the courage to take on the responsibility like a core player, which is the only bright spot of the team in this game.
Shortly after the change of sides, Havertz forced Pickford into another fine save with a left-footed overhead kick from just inside the penalty area line. And by the 81st minute, Sterling was on the receiving end of a grounder from K
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Forced to pass back under the error, Havertz grabbed and brought to the center line to send a diagonal straight line to assist Muller constitute a one-touch situation, unfortunately the latter in the penalty area line right foot shot will be deflected out of the left post, lost a good opportunity to equalize, but also kicked off the German team's final hope. Perhaps the only thing to be thankful for is that it is not Werner who kicked off the single knife ......
The set piece and defense system sucks.
Germany's scoring moments in this game were just the 3 times Havertz was involved. But England, in fact, only 3 times, in addition to the 2 goals, and the half before the end of the Muller back to the error caused by that by Hummels to resolve the goal of the danger. You can certainly question Germany for playing too conservatively and respecting their opponents too much to make the most of their attacking expertise, but what's not to like about England? Just like Kirk.
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Said the coach: "The contest was well-balanced until England opened the scoring. Both teams completely restrained each other. We simply didn't give England any time, and we didn't have much time ourselves, but played quite well." Sterling's goal in the 75th minute was even England's first shot on goal in the second half. And the whole game down, England only 5 shots on goal, while Germany has 9 times.
This is a typical knockout stage in the evening of the strong dialogue, and even full of the final smell, each other has no secret of the two teams are extremely cautious, but always hidden killing opportunities, the competition from beginning to end are full of tension. 1-1 and 0-2, in fact, just a line difference. And in the sports evening, the German team has a greater opportunity to open the record.
After sending forward more intense desire, defense is also more Jie Goretzka, the German team in the first half of the side was severely constrained, was able to make more bold in the middle of the straight line delivery. Just 8 minutes after the start, Goretzka sent the ball to the center circle after the agile forward, Mueller took the ball and turned around to disengage from the Stones who grabbed immediately after the direct pass, Goretzka middle of the anti-offside simply constitute a one-touch, but was put down by Rice in the arc of the penalty area. In the former German international Sauer, this is a red card foul, but the referee Markley just showed a yellow card, in the end, Rice still have Walker around, and is not the last defensive player.
Croatia
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After a flick with Muller, Havertz's low left-footed shot was blocked by the wall. Shortly after Sterling broke the deadlock, Kimmich invented another free-kick opportunity at the edge of the box, but Muller's curling shot was still blocked by the wall. Germany's hard-practiced set-piece attack came to nothing in this tournament after all.
In addition to the futility of the positioning ball, Germany's three center back system also proved to be completely failed to strengthen the role of the defense. The group game 3 war lost 5 goals, and lost the first ball moment from the 20th minute to the 15th minute to the 11th minute, and constantly forward to the premise of Portugal and Hungary are the opponent's first shot on goal, enough to prove that this defense system is a failure. England can do 75 minutes before losing the defense, in fact, is already a "forward". In the process of losing the goal, the left center back Rüdiger unsuccessfully grabbed Sterling and then did not return to his defensive position in time, which eventually led to the consequences. Germany's U21 team manager Kuntz, who served as a pundit, made it clear: "Three center backs means they have to be lined up in the penalty area. You can't have one guy penetrating into another position, which leads to total chaos."
In the process of conceding the 2nd goal, Rüdiger made the same grave error, completely ignoring Kane in front of him and allowing the England captain to head home with no defensive pressure. Kuntz thought, "It was a defensive problem we had throughout the tournament." As the 1996
European cup (e.g. soccer)
Kuntz, who was instrumental in winning the title, also thought that the two moments wasted by Werner and Müller were not decisive, "Yes, we didn't capitalize on two moments today. But as a former striker, I want to defend them a little. We never really played well. I don't think the three center backs really worked to improve the solidity of the defense and to keep the opponent from getting a chance." Another pundit, Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has just returned to Hertha Berlin, agreed with Kuntz, "I don't think the loss was in wasting those two moments. The defense's performance today, and in a few other games, was just terrible."
Option A is right, it's wrong to be too slow to react
Although the defensive role of the three center back system is unsatisfactory, and there have always been calls for Germany to return to four backs, but Loew's insistence on 343 in this competition is completely justified, in the end, once the change to four backs, Goossens, the biggest discovery, will have to be taken out. And let's not forget how frightening Halstenberg's half-hour play against Portugal was. If we were to change the formation on the fly, I'm afraid we'd lose a lot of ground for a little while.
Light on the competition, Leif's "A program" actually did not do anything wrong, the competition trend in a long time is also completely in the expected. The final resolution of the results is the clinical adjustment. Competition kicked to 69 minutes, the two managers both made the first adjustment. Lefebvre not surprisingly sent on Gnabry, replaced Werner. Southgate also sent in Grealish, as the fans hoped, to take down the young Saka. In the end, Grealish gave 1 direct assist & 1 direct assist, while Gnabry was robbed by Luke Shaw in the center circle on top of his inactivity on the attacking end, which directly led to the 2nd goal conceded.
Gnabry came in and continued his lackluster performance from the group stage, leaving him back on without the desired effect, which can't all be blamed on Löw. Lefebvre has to take the blame for not making another change immediately after 0-1, but not substituting Emre Zhan and Sane until after 0-2. That's right, Löw actually had Emre Zhan and Sane ready to come in before conceding the 2nd goal, it just never presented a dead ball substitution. But more than 7 minutes also passed between the 1st goal conceded and the two men stepping to the sidelines. And it was only in extra time that Löw replaced the odd boy out, Mushara. It all came too late, and the substitutions made no difference at all.
Mushara, who played a key role against Hungary, was replaced so late in the game that the outside world had the most negative opinions. Germany's former captain Barak complained that Mushara on is equal to not on, "I do not understand why the national team manager waited so long to adjust." But Loew gave his own reason: "Jammer is a good player, he has great talent, but he has not yet reached the kind of level that people fantasize about." The ending of the loss, and the fact that Mushara literally hasn't even touched the ball since he entered the game, makes that commentary pale in comparison.
Another former German international, Bobic, who is the general manager of Hertha Berlin Sport, criticized: "You have five substitutions. The national team manager needs to be criticized. There have been quite a few problems with some of his substitutions in the past." With the benefit of hindsight, with Germany no longer able to make their way through the middle for long stretches of the second half, Muller, Goretzka and Kehl
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And other people have been obviously physical (group stage simply no rotation consequences), and the two wingbacks have been unable to pass the England five back, Leif not only should be adjusted earlier and more ups and downs, and even fully able to consider change 433 to demolish the trick.
Lefebvre's three-year fix is lost
With "euthanasia", the German team has finished this year's
European cup (e.g. soccer)
Journey. Both Lefebvre and his disciples admitted that going out in the 1/8 finals was a great despair and loss. While Löw was
World Cup
The 3 years of self-correction that followed also ended in utter failure. In the rebuilding process, Leif has had gains, controversy, but also repeated losses. The biggest loss is that he swayed in the growing distrust of the outside world, made too many compromises, and ultimately lost himself.
The offense's third zone speeds up and would have been Lefebvre experiencing
World Cup
The first step towards rectifying the situation was taken after the defeat. This was initially accomplished in October 2018 when the UEFA Europa League team visited France and switched to playing "three small forwards".
With Gnabry and Sane as the core, supplemented by Werner, Reus, Havertz and perhaps Goretzka, this three striker system without a classic center forward has always worked well, with Gnabry as the "pseudo-number 9" as a particularly good manifestation of the goal is never a problem. But come to
European cup (e.g. soccer)
Gnabry has completely lost the vitality he used to have in this system, no longer often dropping back to get the ball near the center circle, using his high-speed breaks to launch attacks and invent space for his teammates, and no more courageous clinical kicks. After the cruciate ligament tear Sane cool due to continue to slump for several months the condition and determination, lost the starting position, against Hungary finally get the opportunity to start and play the whole game, but was booed by their own Munich fans.
With Gnabry and Sane out of action, the biggest achievement during the rebuild - the "small, fast three strikers" - was naturally nullified, and the approach to speeding up the attacking third was a complete failure.
Even the 4-2 victory over Portugal a battle, but also thanks to the two wingbacks drive, this three forwards to work up. Coupled with the players all over the heavy psychological baggage, especially on the back of the anti-pressure talent determination is not enough, in front of the field do not dare to take risks, afraid of making mistakes, playing too cautious, leading to the kind of 3 years ago, the hypnotic slow tempo of the pass and control to return to full swing. Compared to the results, the scene is a greater loss.
World Cup
After more than a year of time, Löw implemented "small class education", in order to establish the main lineup as soon as possible, and even exclude Müller, Hummels and Boateng to ripen a new generation of leaders. But the new crown epidemic led to a major disruption of the program, Leif had to call up more marginal players and newcomers from scratch to cope with the dense schedule of three matches a week. The instability of the lineup led directly to fluctuations in spectacle and results, as well as increased rhetorical pressure.
Meanwhile.
Lefebvre has always tweaked back and forth between a three center back and a four back system, switching back from three to four during the second UEFA Europa League group stage, but after a blowout loss to North Macedonia in the World Cup in March, the
European cup (e.g. soccer)
Before returning to the three center backs and putting
World Cup
Kimmich, who has been a fixture in the No. 6 position since then, has moved back to the right. The biggest self-denial of Loew, of course, is the re-call of Muller and Hummels due to external pressure (especially after the 0-6 defeat to Spain and under the judgment of former disciples Ballack, Schweinsteiger, etc.) and to play it safe for his final tournament.
It is in the process of Leif's continuous self-denial and swaying, the German team's pace of change two steps forward and one step back, one step forward and two steps back, and ultimately gained nothing, back to square one. No one knows, if Löw is self-righteous, determined not to re-call the "two old", will be like Luis Enrique as a turnaround. No one knows, if de
national soccer team
Would it have brought some substantial assistance at the tactical level for the Association's top brass to dare to intervene and decisively reshuffle the national team's coaching staff by, for example, installing Germany's U21 team boss Kuntz next to Lefebvre (as Fogetz initially complemented Beckenbauer). But now we are all able to know that Lefebvre is not in the
World Cup
Handing over the reins right after that was the wrong choice regarding himself and the German team.
In the "09 champion generation" gradually faded out of this already difficult account period, the German team wasted another 3 years of time. Gnabry, Sane and Guler are not as Löw and the outside world wish to take the lead, and even let people more and more doubt that they do not have the ability to do so; the most outstanding representative of the middle generation of Kimmich and Goretzka, has not yet been able to be like once Ram and Schweinsteiger as the leader; and the return of the fire line of Muller and Hummels, as well as the Neuer and Kehl.
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These four 2014
World Cup
The title-winning hoon, also due to the increase in age and the accumulation of injuries, in some key moments seem a little out of their depth, and failed to invent any miracle.
All five early tournaments have reached at least the semifinals, including 2014
World Cup
Winning the title (plus winning the Confederations Cup in 2017), to going out early in the final 2 tournaments, Lefebvre's 15-year-long career as national team manager came to a sad end. He didn't leave behind a mess, but a big construction site. Rumor has it that K
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(31) and Gündoğan (30) will play in this year's
European cup (e.g. soccer)
after quitting the national team, while former captain Schweinsteiger assumed that Hummels (32) and Müller (31) would also say goodbye. Germany
national soccer team
The ball has not been plunged into the turn of the century the kind of youth shortage of the predicament, the last three U21 UEFA European Youth Championships harvested two championships and a second place is enough to prove that this soccer country is still no lack of good seedlings, but the homogenization of talent and individual position is also an objective fact. Hopefully, Flick will immediately repeat the performance in the
Bayern
Putting out the fire to save the Sixth Champion's peculiar scene isn't practical, and he needs more moments.
Certainly, Flick will be given a much friendlier and looser rhetorical environment than he was at the end of Loew's tenure. Both he and the German team, which needs to instill the belief of winning from scratch, will get more room for trial and error and growth. But at the same time, the mission in front of the "six champions coach" will be much more difficult than in the early days of Lefebvre's reign - not only to win back the hearts of the fans with beautiful scenes and successes one after another, but also to win back the hearts of the fans in the hometown in 2024 at the latest.
European cup (e.g. soccer)
On winning the title!
