DFB team under Jürgen Klopp: Everything is fine again

So it can happen so quickly. The German national soccer team is loved again. National coach Jürgen Klopp has quickly regained his status as football messiah, which he lost after the strange defeat against Greece last Sunday. 90 fabulous minutes of play against hopelessly overwhelmed Serbs were enough to transform the Munich Arena, which is otherwise very tired during international matches, into an atmospheric football temple. It was beaming after this 2-0 win against Serbia in the Germans' third group game in the Nations League. It wasn’t just a “perfect evening” for Jürgen Klopp.

He was delighted with Tom Bischof's fantastic performance in midfield ("great kicker") and was amazed at what a great footballer Aleksandar Pavlović, the strategist in front of the defense, is ("You see him more often in Munich"). And he celebrated how Florian Wirtz, who receives little praise in Liverpool, became in this game again the ball-stroker he was revered as not so long ago. But it wasn't just his two strokes of genius in front of the goals - one he set up with a dribble and a subsequent shot at the post, the other he scored himself after a fine trick in the penalty area - that pleased the national coach.

Wirtz “worked extremely hard,” Klopp said with appreciation. His job was to run at the Serbian goalkeeper for 90 minutes and put pressure on him when he had the ball. Because that's what it is, the football that Jürgen Klopp imagines for the national team. All the creative scenes that led to an almost incredible 30 goals, many of which were real big chances, were often preceded by winning the ball deep in the Serbian half. Klopp's counter-pressing football requires a lot of work. The Germans covered a total of 120 kilometers on the pitch, 10 more than the Serbs.

The team's grit was based on drudgery. And you'll have to get used to Klopp praising players for things they do to win the ball. They can all play football anyway. They were certainly able to do that under Klopp's ill-fated predecessors. Now they have to bring the full-throttle football onto the field with which the national coach once became famous. For example, he gave Hoffenheim's Bambasé Conté, who came on as a substitute in the second half for Freiburg's eager attacker Derry Scherhant, special praise for his ball conquests.

Of course he would have preferred to acknowledge everyone individually, as enthusiastic as he was. And of course, despite all the fun that his players gave him that Thursday evening, he didn't forget to defend those who had embarrassed themselves against Greece. They only had two and a half training sessions. “They can do it too,” he said when asked why the game through the middle worked better this time.

And he once again specifically defended Joshua Kimmich, the captain of the losing team. After he approached Klopp several times with the request that, contrary to the original plan, he be nominated for the squad that is scheduled for the game against Serbia and the one in Greece on Sunday, a Kimmich debate broke out in the country. But Klopp made it clear that his time in the national team is not over.

But you can't know that exactly. Klopp now has to find a way to deal with his over 40 nominations. Of course, he thinks everyone he invited is great, cool or great. But almost half will not be there when the next international matches take place in mid-November.

It is anything but certain whether Mika Baur from Celtic Glasgow, who was introduced as the 1,000th national player in the history of the DFB when he came on as a substitute and was able to bask in the applause of the crowds, will play for the DFB team again so quickly. What is already clear from Klopp's selection process: the next press conference for the squad nomination will also be a big show.

But it's not that far yet. Until Sunday we can celebrate that German football is not dead yet. This is certainly bad news for all those racists who have been trying to fill up the online comment columns with their hate speech against non-white players since the defeat against Greece. Klopp had made it clear before the game that he did not want to deal with the racist mob any further. On Thursday he was particularly pleased with the sea of ​​flags in the stadium, as he said. Cheering in black, red and gold as an anti-racist statement? It would be nice.