What is happening with Germany?

Coach Julian Nagelsmann once created many promises of a revival of German football. But then those hopes were soon extinguished like his career.

Stars like Kimmich (left) are also helpless - Photo: REUTERS

In the early morning of September 5 (Vietnam time), the German team suffered a shocking 0-2 defeat against Slovakia in their first match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Risk of missing the World Cup

First, let's talk about the unpredictability of World Cup qualifying. FIFA's expansion from 32 to 48 teams also increased the number of places available for each region.

Specifically, Africa increased from 4 to 8.5 tickets; Asia increased from 4.5 to 8.5 tickets; South America increased from 4.5 to 6.5 tickets... But Europe only increased from 13 to 16 tickets - an increase that is not "significant" compared to the very even general level of the continent leading the football world.

Not only that, the European Football Federation (UEFA) also made the game more complicated by dividing the groups. In the previous qualifying rounds, Europe was divided into 10 groups, and each group had from 5 to 6 teams. In this qualifying round, the number of groups is 12, with each group having from 4 to 5 teams.

Although the overall level of European football is becoming more and more even, there is still a problem: there are still too many "underdog" teams. A typical example is in Group I of Italy. Although there are 5 teams, 2 of them, Estonia and Moldova, always only participate in the qualifying round to "make up the group".

Likewise, Germany's Group A includes Luxembourg, one of the weakest teams in Europe. And Northern Ireland are just one place above.

Therefore, the competition between the two remaining teams, Germany and Slovakia, will decide the top spot in the group, which means a direct ticket to the 2026 World Cup. Each group has only 1 direct ticket, and if they stumble once, there will be no chance of recovery.

The rigour of European qualifying is very different from South America, where Brazil can play poorly in the first leg and still qualify a few games early. Germany, meanwhile, are now trembling at the prospect of having to play in the play-offs.

Coach Nagelsmann in danger

Furthermore, the 0-2 loss to Slovakia was a heavy blow to German football's hopes of a revival.

Before entering the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, Nagelsmann and his team caused great disappointment with two consecutive losses to Portugal and France in the UEFA Nations League. At that time, German fans were still patient because they only lost to the strongest teams in the world . But losing to Slovakia was the last straw.

Coach Nagelsmann tried to create a new wind in the national team. Against Slovakia, he put Collins, Stiller and Woltemade - young stars who have emerged in the last year. The German strategist also strongly removed unsuitable stars like Sane and Can from the team. But all is still the same, the German team still plays completely dark.

Their attack lacks a real conductor with Musiala out for a long time. The forwards have also been less fortunate in the absence of Havertz for the same reason. And the defense has always played like they were sleepwalking.

German fans cannot help but feel bitter when looking at a fact: they no longer have a striker who has scored... 15 goals for the team. From Fullkrug, Woltemade to Beier, Undav... Havertz is often criticized as "wooden legs", but at least he has scored 20 goals after 55 appearances for the team, while the current German strikers are far behind Havertz.

Although Germany's current generation of talent is lacking, that is no excuse for their crushing defeat to Slovakia. Across German fan forums and groups, coach Nagelsmann is starting to come under heavy pressure.

There was a time when Die Mannschaft fans believed Nagelsmann was steering the team in the right direction, after a relatively impressive Euro 2024. But once again Nagelsmann collapsed when he started to build trust.

At 38, Nagelsmann is even younger than many former players when they started their coaching career. But the Germans are starting to wonder: Is their captain on the way to... the end of his career?

Nagelsmann rose to prominence in his late 30s when he coached Hoffenheim. Reached his peak in his late 30s with Leipzig, then unexpectedly failed at Bayern Munich. And now he's running out of ideas in his late 40s.

Nagelsmann's decline is similar to the way Germany's team has inexplicably declined after Euro 2024 - something that the football world has yet to explain.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/dieu-gi-dang-xay-ra-voi-tuyen-duc-20250906105552813.htm