👀 What went wrong? Germany stars contradict Nagelsmann | OneFootball

After the 1–2 defeat against Ecuador in the final group match, there is great disappointment within the Germany team. At this point, people often start looking for the reasons behind a performance. The classic question: "What was the reason for it?"

And surprisingly, opinions differ quite a bit here between head coach Julian Nagelsmann and Germany stars Joshua Kimmich and Deniz Undav. At least when it comes to the question of mentality. The wording in particular reveals the clear contradiction.

In an interview with 'MagentaTV', Nagelsmann already reacted somewhat irritated to the suggestion that winning the group had taken away that last one percent of commitment. 

"No, please stop! Nonsense, honestly! Didn’t the boys want to give it everything?" the national coach replied, also putting himself protectively in front of his team. Nagelsmann also firmly rejected Johannes B. Kerner’s follow-up comment that Ecuador wanted the win a bit more: "No, they didn’t want it more. They just took a bit more risk in many situations."

These statements contrast with the reactions of some players, who gave the opposite answer on the mentality issue. Deniz Undav admitted, also speaking to 'MagentaTV': "I had the feeling that they wanted it more than we did. They were more aggressive. They still had everything to play for."

Captain Joshua Kimmich also contradicted the national coach, without knowing what he had said to other media representatives at the same time.

 In the mixed zone, the Bayern star was clear: The difference today was that the opponent wanted the win more. You could especially feel that in the second half, and that’s why they deserved to win."

So on that point, there is at least a certain degree of disagreement. In the run-up to the World Cup, Nagelsmann had often been criticized for not standing protectively in front of some players in certain moments. After the Ecuador match, he did so decisively — and now it is backfiring on him.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

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