What will save hosts Germany at this summer’s Euros? Will it be the memory of Franz Beckenbauer, will it be their pink-to-purple inclusivity Adidas second strip, or will it be Toni Kroos?
Germany need saving. Group stage elimination in the last two World Cups came either side of a last-16 exit against England at the Euros. They sacked their coach for the first time ever last September when they fired Hansi Flick, and his replacement Julian Nagelsmann goes into Saturday’s meeting with France on the back of two defeats.
Invoking the spirit of their greatest-ever player is one way to instil some of the old invincibility back into the team. Nagelsmann’s players travelled to training this week in a team bus emblazoned with the image of Beckenbauer.
The game against France is the first since his death. ‘Thank you, Franz’ was written large on the side of the bus alongside his picture.
It may inspire some but it also sets the bar dauntingly high. After winning the World Cup on home soil as a player in 1974, he won it as a manager in 1990. Current coach Nagelsmann has four games left to hone his best XI, and six new call-ups in his latest squad suggests he isn’t even close.
Germany need a saviour ahead of their home European Championships, and Toni Kroos could be the man to help them
Germany go into the current international break on the back of back-to-back defeats and morale seemingly low
They have this week been travelling in a bus dedicated to the late Franz Beckenbauer following his passing at the start of this year
There’s a home friendly with the Netherlands on Tuesday, and two more against Ukraine and Greece, before going up against Scotland on June 14, and then Hungary and Switzerland. A third group-stage exit in six years is unthinkable.
So what of the pink to purple second shirts that the German Football Association (DFB) says on its website represents ‘the new generation of German football fans and the diversity of the country’?
If the nod to Beckenbauer is a call to turn back the clock, this is an attempt at a great leap forward. The German people have fallen out of love with the team in recent tournaments, and the second shirt is an attempt to freshen the relationship up.
Not everyone likes it. ‘Nothing learned from the Qatar fiasco?’ headlined the Berliner Zeitung, referencing the famous hands over the mouths team photo from the German players when they were banned from wearing one-love armbands.
The nod to Beckenbauer is a call to turn back the clock and re-unite the German team and its fans
The new pink and purple second shirt has split opinions in the fanbase, with the strip an attempt to freshen things up
‘The DFB wants to represent a diverse society but after the gesture at the World Cup the national team should not be sending political signals again,’ it went on.
The German FA knew there would be dissent. In one promotional video released with the shirt this week, Thomas Muller is told by an imaginary social media complainer, ‘That’s no shirt for a legend’. He responds, ‘I’ll ask one’ and shouts across to Rudi Voller, who retorts, ‘I think it is’. Then another critic writes, ‘Barbie Pink: what’s that supposed to mean? Is it a woman’s shirt?’ And talented young female German player Jule Brand responds, ‘Well it doesn’t look like eight European Championship titles to me yet.’ It’s a reference to the number of times the women’s team have won the Euros.
The campaign is bright and clever. It’s Adidas’ last before Nike take over as Germany’s new kit supplier in 2027.
They have also left the traditional home jersey relatively untouched. ‘Typisch Deutsch’ (Typical German) says a young fan when she sees it, in another of Adidas’ promotional videos. All of which brings us to Kroos.
When asked what that deliberately debate-provoking slogan meant to him this week, he said, ‘We’ll before, “Typical German” meant winning football matches.’ The comment was as incisive as one of his passes.
The campaign is Adidas’ last before Nike take over as Germany’s new kit supplier in 2027
Julian Nagelsmann (pictured) is the man tasked with turning the side’s fortunes around after Hansi Flick was sacked
Kroos the catalyst
The only thing that will bring the German people together behind the team is success on the pitch and Kroos can be the catalyst for that.
He quit international football after that 2-0 defeat to England at the last Euros but the 34-year-old returns for his 106th cap on Saturday.
There is talent in this German side and if he can play the passes for Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen pair Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz then his comeback will have been a masterstroke.
‘These exceptional players are meant to make the game fun but we have to put them in positions on the pitch where they can bring us joy and that’s part of my job,’ he said this week.
Operation save Germany begins this weekend with Kroos’ first match back. Turning up to games in the ‘Beckenbus’ or donning an inclusivity second shirt are attempts at bringing together the past and the future of German football.
But nothing inspires and unites like victory and Kroos will be key to Germany delivering that.
Kroos will return for his 106th Germany cap against France on Saturday in the sides’ friendly
He will be key to helping Germany succeed not just this fortnight but over the summer
The Mbappe threat
The test for Germany on Saturday will be slightly watered down because although Kylian Mbappe is likely to start against them, his sidekicks Antoine Griezmann (ankle) and Ousmane Dembele (eardrum) will not.
Mbappe should play because he needs the minutes.
Luis Enrique has left him out of several Ligue 1 games and while that keeps him fresh for the Champions League – the only competition that really matters to PSG – it also does the rest of Europe no favours because it leaves him in far better shape at the Euros than the over-played defenders he’ll be facing.
Kylian Mbappe has regularly been rested by PSG in recent times, meaning he will be fit and firing for his country
Chaos continues at Spain
‘Waiter, waiter there’s a hair in my soup’. ‘I’m sorry sir, let me get you another one’. The waiter disappears through the swing doors of the kitchen and, once out of sight, hooks the hair out with his finger taking the same soup back to the table.
That’s pretty much what some key figures within the Spanish Football Federation seem to be trying to do following the sacking of Luis Rubiales after he inappropriately kissed Jenni Hermoso following Spain’s victory at the Women’s World Cup last year.
Interim president Pedro Rocha was one of Rubiales’ vice-presidents. He wanted to call elections last Wednesday, which if he wins would install him as the permanent replacement.
Chaos in Spain’s Football Federation is showing no sign of slowing down and still centres around Luis Rubiales (left)
We are close to finding out if there were legal flaws when Saudi Arabia bought the rights to hold the Spanish Super Cup
Unfortunately for him those plans were scuppered when Spanish Police raided RFEF’s headquarters on the same day. They were searching for papers relating to the sale of the Spanish Super Cup tournament to Saudi Arabia for 240m euros.
The public prosecutor wants to talk to Rubiales, who has said he will cooperate once he returns from the Dominican Republic. His home in Spain was also searched by the investigating police.
Saudi Arabia bought the rights to hold the Spanish Super Cup for 40m euros-a-season for six seasons in 2019. There were always huge ethical holes in taking a Spanish domestic competition and playing it 3,000 miles away in a dictatorship.
We are close to finding out if there were legal flaws too. The investigation into possible corruption, money laundering and misuse of funds between 2018 and 2023 is ongoing. None of this is a good look for Spain, set to co-host the World Cup in 2030.
