Julian Nagelsmann Will Need A Summer Miracle At Euro 2024

Germany is breaking all the records and not in a good way. The 2-0 defeat against Austria on Tuesday was not only deserved but also the sixth defeat in just 11 games in 2023. It was also the second defeat to Austria in a row, something that hadn’t happened since 1931. It was also the second defeat in a row for Germany under new Bundestrainer Julian Nagelsmann, who now faces the herculean task of getting this team on track before Germany hosts Euro 2024.

“The most important part is that we can’t see ourselves as victims,” Julian Nagelsmann said after the game. “We have to accept that we have plenty of work ahead of ourselves in every position. This will not be easy until next summer. It will only be possible through hard work and good old German virtues.”

Those good old German virtues that have transported Germany to four World Cup and three European Championship titles have been missing in action for some time, however. Somewhere between winning the last World Cup in Brazil and the 2017 Confederations Cup, an entire German football nation has been lost at sea without a plan and, more importantly, without a true philosophy.

Germany today is lost somewhere in-between the Spanish style preferred by former Bundestrainer Joachim Löw and the high-pressing Gegenpressing style played by the majority of Bundesliga clubs. The country is also represented by a wide array of highly talented players, who play regular Champions League football at top clubs like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and up and coming Leverkusen.

Perhaps that is what makes this the most frustrating part; this isn’t necessarily about individual quality but the lack of team spirit. The very team spirit that once made Germany a feared tournament nation. Nowadays, Die Mannschaft is more of a sparring partner used by the likes of Austria and Turkey to repair a damaged qualification campaign.

It certainly feels that there is a disconnect between what the Germany shirt once meant for German society and how it is represented by the current generation of players. But perhaps this Germany team is also a reflection of German society in general, that is what Germans would call “Findungsphase” (a difficult period of discovery).

Indeed, as the nation is trying to navigate a difficult period in which the country is trying to find a place in the world while dealing with conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, the German national team too is stuck in an endless identity crisis. The current generation of players perhaps is a synonym of a country that is simply trying to figure out what it is trying to be.

Germany has been there before, in 2006, when it hosted the World Cup. Going into that tournament, too, Germany was trying to define what it was on and off the field. The results leading up to the tournament were also a catastrophe, and at one point, then head coach Jürgen Klinsmann was almost fired.

Then, at the tournament, the nation got together, and Germany played fantastic football and finished third. But one out of nowhere Sommermärchen (summer miracle) doesn’t guarantee a second Sommermärchen. Plus, the results leading up to this tournament are even worse than 15 years ago, ahead of the 2006 World Cup. Finally, that Germany side also had leadership in the form of Michael Ballack. Something this current side is lacking entirely.

At least in Nagelsmann, the team now has a Bundestrainer in charge who knows that time is running out. “We are a team only until the whistle blows to start the game,” Nagelsmann said in frustration after the game to ZDF. “The team has the ability to play beautiful football, but we have to be more dynamic when we win possession. We have a good team, but the moment we step into the opposition half, we are just individualists. There are lots of smaller good signs, but we can’t translate them into success. There is no self-confidence, and that must change!”

On the field, Nagelsmann is right, and it feels, at least, that the Bundestrainer is activating the right mechanisms. But off the field, the German football federation needs to commit to some soul-searching. The entire structure around the national team, beginning with the leadership that has navigated the national team into this quagmire that might be impossible to fix ahead of the Euros in the first place.

With all that in mind, will there be a Sommermärchen next summer? Without a doubt, it will take a summer miracle for a positive performance at Euro 2024. But if anyone can produce it, it will be Nagelsmann, even if it seems impossible at the moment.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth