Germany’s coach, Hansi Flick, asserted that he remains the right person to lead the team despite their shocking 4-1 defeat against Japan in an international friendly.
The loss adds to the mounting pressure on Flick, as the German national team, which has won the World Cup four times, had hoped the match would signify a fresh start, especially with the Euro 2024 tournament just nine months away.
Unfortunately, it turned into a disaster, marking their third consecutive loss and drawing disapproval from home fans in the form of jeers and whistles.
Even before this match, Flick was already under scrutiny, as his team had only managed to win four out of their last 16 matches and experienced an early exit from the World Cup last year.
This latest setback is likely to intensify the calls for Flick’s departure.
“I know in football there is a dynamic and I cannot forecast what will happen but from my side we try everything to prepare the team well,” Flick told reporters.
“I think we are doing a good job and I think I am [the right man for the job],” he said when asked specifically about his future.
The Germans have not enjoyed any success under Flick since he took over two years ago.
They crashed out of the World Cup group stage last year, winning just one of three matches, and have since shown no real signs of recovery.
“I am very disappointed and we have to admit that Japan have a very good team. We don’t have the means to beat such a compact defence,” Flick said.
“We started well. But they score with their first chance; we come back and level and we felt the support, but then they score again.”
“In the second half, there were too many individual mistakes.”
Flick, who had started his stint with an eight-game winning run, will now have to prepare his team for an even tougher task against 2022 World Cup finalists France on Tuesday.
“We will prepare well and recover. We chose such games because we want to play against the best,” Flick said.
“Today we were not in a position to beat this team. We will prepare for France, give the team courage. That’s the daily work. I can understand the criticism.
“We have to go through this together. We are one team. We lost heavily today but we have to shake it off and be different against France.”