"Hansi Flick, DFB." The national coach also complied with the moderator's request to briefly name his name and employer so that everyone was in the picture at the national football team's press conference on Friday.
However, if someone had hoped for a more or less clear picture of the team that he will field against Italy this Saturday (8:45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Nations League and on RTL) in Bologna – it could or – better – the national coach did not want to serve.
Christian Kamp
sports editor.
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Unlike on many other occasions, Flick kept a low profile on personnel issues, he spoke of the "spoiled for choice" and that even the last unit in the morning was no help in making a decision.
"There are so many positions, the final training wasn't any better for us either, that we see things more clearly," he said.
It was a message that was not least directed inwards: to give everyone the feeling that they were in the running for starting places.
"It's a nice situation we're in right now," said the national coach.
With the start of the Nations League, one could say that phase two of Flick's mission begins.
After he anchored a new game idea and a new self-image in people's minds faster than was to be hoped, it's now about suitability for competition at the highest level.
Whether this test and emergency really occurs in Bologna or only on Tuesday in Munich against England remains to be seen.
In Flick's first days, Italy was a reference model for courageous football, which is supported by a special togetherness.
"We were all fans of that team spirit that the Italians exuded," he said.
German thirst for action seems great
However, the Squadra Azzurra have since missed the World Cup, made their second fresh start under Roberto Mancini and just lost 3-0 to Argentina.
It was "not that easy to predict" what kind of opponent and what kind of game his team expected, said Flick.
There seems to be a lot of energy in our own team.
Joshua Kimmich, who spoke after Flick in Herzogenaurach, found the prospect of four games within eleven days (the duel with Hungary in Budapest and the second leg against Italy to follow) “cool” and that it was also “about something” in the Nations League, too.
Kimmich is fully involved for the first time in over half a year, previously his vaccination status (as a corona contact person) and the birth of his third child had held him back.
On Friday, Kimmich stretched the curve beyond the World Cup to the European Championships at home in two years.
It is now "time" to show what's in the team, said the Bayern professional so that everyone should hear it - and the national coach is certainly particularly fond of it.