Oliver Bierhoff – the managing director for national teams and academy at the German FA talks about on Germany’s pipeline.
Germany has knocked out from world cup group stage in 2018. They lost Against Mexico and South Korea. They’re One of the favourite on that tournament. It was a great shock.
Past is past now they have to focus on the next stage. For this they have to improve their pipeline.
“Russia was a blip, an accident, but our issues go deeper. Our coaches are saying that there are too few 17- or 18-year-olds coming through who have what it takes. That’s the brutal feedback from the Bundesliga as well. They say they’re forced to go to France or England (for young players), that they’re better there. That shows you we have to make up ground.
“A look at France — the most successful country in terms of producing excellent football — shows that they leave more freedom for players to be creative. Us Germans are quite schematic, mechanical, and that rubs off on the football. Our boys play very solid, very organized, but sometimes without the creativity and spontaneous, fast, decision-making that makes the difference at this level.
“We’re not fatalistic but there are problems ahead in the medium term when the current crop of internationals come towards the end of their careers. I think the national team manager in charge in 2024 or 2026 might have fewer players to chose from than Low had in 2014.”
