When you start a hockey game in Tokyo at 11.45 am, it feels more like “high noon” on the artificial turf, which is steaming in the humid heat, and not as officially called: “morning session”. After a 60-minute half-baked and sleepless performance by the German men, national coach Kaïs al Saadi did not get the heat, but the anger in the head. The 44-year-old looked so grim that it could be assumed that the debriefing was also heated. Especially since he gave a foretaste of the embarrassing 3: 4 defeat against South Africa on Thursday immediately after the final whistle. “With such a stumbling from A to Z it will of course not work. We need clear, honest words now. Tacheles has to be spoken, ”said al Saadi.
A defeat of the hockey superpower Germany during the Olympics against South Africa would, transferred to football, be comparable to a defeat of the DFB-Elf against North Macedonia. Especially since the South African team has often been left at home by its national Olympic committee despite qualifying - for lack of prospects of success against the mostly European and oceanic elite of this sport.
In any case, since the surprising failure against the African champions it has become obvious how fickle the Germans are in this tournament. Mathematically, in the final group game against arch rivals Netherlands this Friday (1.45 p.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics as well as on ZDF and Eurosport) at least one draw is needed to advance. But realistically, thanks to three more points and the much better goal difference, the selection of the German Hockey Association can hardly be ousted by the South Africans from fourth place in the group of six. But there is still a lot going on against the Dutch. It is important to build (new) trust in your own strengths. And the claim to be one of the medal candidates on the largest stage this sport offers, to fill playfully with life.Of course, it also helps not to have to face the Australians that have so far been extremely strong in Tokyo against a representative of the much weaker pool A in the quarter-finals.
Mood killer instead of mandatory victory
In any case, it was a mood killer against South Africa instead of a mandatory victory.
Did the bronze medalist from four years ago need another wake-up call, or were the harbingers of an early elimination to be seen on Tokyo's blue artificial turf?
"We now have to show that the team unity that we repeatedly emphasize is not blah, but is there precisely for these moments," said national coach al Saadi, who now demands "a top performance as an answer".
The German men have already succeeded in doing this at these games. After a good start with a 7-1 win against Canada, they had a weak start against world champions Belgium, which resulted in a 3-1 defeat. After the first blow in the neck of these games, the DHB selection was able to respond strongly - with a very convincing 5-1 win against Great Britain. What follows now against the Dutch? “It is one of our strengths that we manage to get up in the shortest possible time and show what we can do,” says Captain Tobias Hauke. But the central midfielder also sees the dangers with the experience of his fourth Olympic Games. Before the match against the supposed underdog, Hauke had said: "To say: 'This is only South Africa, I first hit the balls uncompromisingly,when it comes down to it in the quarterfinals' does not work. Then you don't get the switch thrown. "
How easily the German team, which spared two supports with Rühr and Grambusch, was countered, how many technical mistakes they made and how little they made out of ten penalty corners (two goals) are points that it now has in a short time to work up. Al Saadi did not look like he was going to skip anything after the South African blow. He assumes that the team can ignite even more heat in the Tokyo climate. "The team," he said, "will stand together and walk through the fire for one another."