Germany’s defeat against Austria: a bad bankruptcy for the national team and Nagelsmann – Leroy Sane sees red

Defenseless, harmless and lifeless – the German national football team enters the European Championship year without any sign of optimism.

After taking the reveal oath, the Austrian fans’ jeers and ridicule echoed in the players’ ears, and national coach Julian Nagelsmann was also stunned.

After a 0-2 (0-1) defeat in the prestigious match in Vienna, the German national team enters the European Championship year without any sign of optimism. “It couldn’t be worse,” Captain Ilkay Gundogan told ZDF. Seven months before the tournament began, the hosts were in shock.

“We must not fall into the role of the victim now,” Nagelsmann said. “We have to accept that there is an incredible amount of work in all positions. We cannot die beautifully in matches.”

Leroy Sane’s frustration over his sixth defeat of the year flared when he attacked Philippe Moenyi – the Munich native receiving the first red card of his professional career (49 minutes). Only one of four matches has been won under Nagelsmann, the worst start by a national coach since Erik Riebeck 24 years ago.

“It was all home-made,” Gundogan said. “Leroy’s red card sums it all up. Frustration and disappointment. We made it too easy for the Austrians. We weren’t good enough.”

Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer (29th) and Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner (73rd) scored the goals of coach Ralph Rangnick’s team at the Ernst Happel Stadium, whose tickets were completely sold and can accommodate 46,000 spectators.

“We have to be really greedy,” said Rudi Föller, sporting director of the German Football Association. Nagelsmann admitted shortly before kick-off that they were under “a little pressure to get results”. In order to overcome this, the national coach called up the 11 oldest starting players in the German squad (29 years and 287 days) since the European Championship match against Romania 23 years ago.

After conceding 20 goals in their last nine international matches, the Germany side finally wanted to be safe, but Antonio Rudiger made a poor pass in the second minute. But the Secretary of Defense succeeded in settling the matter again against Baumgartner.

The four-time world champion tried to take control of the match, but there were big gaps in defense again. The German match was marked by turmoil. After a quick free kick from David Alaba, Michael Gregoric missed from a good position (12th). Five minutes later, the Freiburg player evaded Rudiger and Hummels after a long pass, but goalkeeper Kevin Trapp blocked it forcefully.

The German Football Association team once again revealed major communication problems between defense and attack, as the ball was quickly given away time and time again due to numerous poor passes. “Clear balls,” Nagelsmann shouted loudly to the bench after about 25 minutes and had a lively discussion with his assistant Sandro Wagner – which didn’t help at first.

Dortmund’s Sabitzer used his freedom to fire a shot from a good position into the near post, with Jonathan Tah very hesitant. The stadium turned into a single sea of ​​red, white and red flags.

And Germany? Three minutes after falling behind, Sane fired the first shot on goal. But there wasn’t much going on. Gundogan and Goretzka were unable to control the game in midfield, striker Niklas Volkrug was not involved at all, and there was little movement out wide either. Föller shook his head in the stands next to German Football Association Vice President Hans-Joachim Watzke and saw the Austrians’ next chance through Baumgartner (43rd).

After the worst run of his captaincy, Nagelsmann promptly disappeared into the dressing room and Hummels had a lively discussion with Tah. “This is realistic football. There is no way forward,” said ZDF expert Per Mertesacker after 45 minutes.

Nagelsmann responded and brought on Thomas Müller for Volkrug, who touched the ball just 16 times. But the coach’s plans were quickly dashed. Sunny hit Mwinyi in the face with both hands. Due to their numerical superiority, the visitors almost conceded the second goal through Stefan Bosch (51).

Nagelsmann replaced Benjamin Henriques and moved Havertz forward into Sane’s position, and an hour later Kimmich, Florian Wirtz and new signing Robert Andric also came on. But there is still very little going on. Trapp made a save against Gregoritsch (64), but was helpless against Baumgartner.

Kimmich (78) and Wirtz (79) created some danger with long-range shots. In stoppage time, Kimmich blocked a shot on the goal line.