The internal clock has already gotten a bit confused.
Normally in March, said Thomas Müller, "there's a bit of a tingling feeling", but this year it was a "different situation".
It was understandable that Müller is not yet in World Cup fever, the unfamiliar winter tournament in Qatar is too far away for that: “My head is not in November yet.”
Christian Kamp
sports editor.
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Instead, you could experience something else exciting with him on Wednesday at the national team's press conference in Neu-Isenburg: a journey through time into a thick chapter of German World Cup history.
And it was by no means about nostalgia, but about what might be learned from the past for the present.
Mixture of harsh realities
There can't be a better key witness than Thomas Müller.
Not only because he is approaching his fourth World Cup tournament at the age of 32, 110 international matches and 42 goals, but because like no other in the team he can track down what football is all about: this mixture of tough realities - quality, physique, form, strategy - and the emotional, sometimes almost irrational-seeming side, this eternal dilemma that you can train, train, train, keep optimizing yourself, but in the end you end up with empty hands and empty eyes , because something else was missing at the decisive moment.
Self-confidence, for example, or the ability to let go, not to lose sight of the "simplicity of football".
You always need, he said, and this can definitely go down as Müller's law in the textbooks of future generations, a "shot of relaxation and freedom".
The question of which moments the current team needs in its development in order to be able to aim for the world title, as captain Manuel Neuer did again on Tuesday, is "relatively easy to answer," said Müller.
You have to manage "the moments when things get tight at a tournament", and which will definitely happen, decide for yourself.
What does it take?
"Ability to suffer", the "quality of being prepared for this moment", the "coolness of not being so affected by the scope of the situation" - but also "that little bit of luck to get through this moment".
Even if that sounded good: Müller couldn't explain down to the last detail why the tight moments worked so well in 2014, against Algeria, against France, but also in the final against Argentina, and in 2018, this "complete catastrophe for us as a football nation”, not at all.
New dynamic
But if you follow Müller's gut, this not DIN-calibrated but nevertheless highly sensitive set of instruments, then there is every reason to hope for profitable moments this year.
"We're feeling really good right now," he said.
The team has "a new dynamic" and is in the process of sharpening and strengthening its game idea.
"We want to be active on this football field and then aim for the World Cup title, of course."
Müller himself has come a long way since his first World Cup twelve years ago.
"In 2010 it was about being able to walk straight ahead without an accident, being able to participate without being in the way," he said;
Müller was top scorer with six goals.
In 2014 he brought the Bayern self-image with him and tried to "take on a small leadership role", to "give something to the teammates".
That was even more in the foreground in 2018 - but without the hoped-for result.
Now, he said, it's actually similar, other things have changed: the staff, football in general, even his own way of playing.
He gets along well with the fast, straightforward players up front who are now shaping the German game, he said.
In addition, his role as a center player is “much more solid”.
If you look at the Kosmos national team from high above, you tend to recognize Müller as the natural center of gravity of this team.
Seen from up close, however, this is not completely self-evident, since Müller, who is so valued by Hansi Flick, also has to assert his role – against the competition, and also against the natural enemy of every footballer: age.
He's currently doing flawlessly, but how long that will be the case is something you're probably wondering at FC Bayern too.
On Wednesday, Müller also spoke about his desire to extend the contract in Munich, which expires in the summer of 2023, by two years and to be with the national team for as long as he "can tip the scales in certain situations".
In order to be ready for these moments in Qatar, with "100 or even 101 percent" his biorhythm, which he has trained over the years, has already led him into World Cup mode.
As always in tournament years, the preparation runs with "all thoughts on where something can be optimized", from the training load to details of nutrition to breathing, but also with the awareness not to overdo it - the Müller way.
"Everything disclosed," he said on Wednesday before making room for Matthias Ginter on the podium.
The only question that remains is what he and the Germans make of it.