sport news Who said this was a good time to get Germany? Country's resurgence at ... trends now
From confusion, disorder and acrimony to a sense of belief, purpose and togetherness in five short months, the turnaround in the fortunes of the German national team has been startling.
When Scotland were drawn with the Euro 2024 hosts, together with the Swiss and Hungary, in Hamburg on December 2, the Tartan Army had good reason to believe Steve Clarke’s side could dampen the mood of the party when it all gets under way in Munich on June 14.
While that air of optimism will rightly prevail up until the seismic opening game in the Allianz Arena, German football is well and truly over the bout of self-doubt which afflicted it last year.
The arrival of Julian Nagelsmann as national team manager has been just what the doctor ordered. The prospect of silverware being spread around the clubs is unquestionably good for business and has been another welcome panacea.
A fortnight before the Euros begin, Bayern Munich could face off against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League Final at Wembley.
Before then, Bayer Leverkusen may well have added the Europa League and the German Cup to the Bundesliga title they claimed by a mile last month.
Kai Havertz is mobbed after scoring Germany's second goal in the win over France in March
After a difficult start, Julian Nagelsmann has revitalised Germany's fortunes ahead of the Euros
Toni Kroos is back playing for Germany and still making an impact with his club, Real Madrid
Xabi Alonso’s indomitable side can equal the 48-game unbeaten run of Benfica in 1965, encompassing both domestic and European commitments, should they avoid defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt tomorrow and can surpass it when they face Roma in the return leg on Thursday. The local media have long since run out of superlatives.
With the combined efforts of German clubs in Europe this season adding up to a fifth spot in the revamped Champions League next season, the feel-good factor has returned to the nation at just the right time.
Perhaps ominously for Scotland and our other Group A opponents, the resurgence of German club football has come hand-in-hand with that of the national team.
Coming after a failure to get out of the groups for the first time in Russia in 2018, elimination at the same stage in Qatar in 2022 was viewed as a national disaster.
The German Federation’s decision to stand by Hansi Flick was rooted in the success his predecessor Joachim Low delivered over 15 years but was fundamentally flawed.
Flick was sacked last September after a 4-1 loss to Japan (the same nation who’d defeated them in their first game Qatar) amid growing fears that the path to success in Euro 2024 had already been lost.
‘With a view towards the European Championships in our own country, we need a spirit of optimism and confidence,’ stated German FA boss Bernd Neuendorf.
Enter Nagelsmann. The reputation of the man who was the youngest ever Bundesliga coach when he took charge of Hoffenheim aged 28 in 2016 had been scuffed a little since being sacked by Bayern the previous March.
The results in his first two matches in charge - a win over the USA and a draw with Mexico - were welcome but largely irrelevant.
German club sides have excelled in Europe this season, with Dortmund getting the better of Mbappe and PSG in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final
Nagelsmann used those games to look under the bonnet to see why the engine had malfunctioned so badly. Subsequent losses to Turkey and Austria underscored the scale of the task he’d signed up for.
Renowned as a tactical innovator, he flitted
