The story goes that recently the World Championships are not going very well for the teams that enter as reigning champions. Let France say it, which was bottom of the 2002 World Cup group after winning the 98 World Cup. Let Italy say it, which did not make it past the group stage of the 2010 World Cup after winning the 2006 World Cup. Spain, which also missed the round of 16 of the 2014 World Cup after having won the 2010 World Cup. What nobody expected, however, was that the same thing would happen to Germany.

In 2018, in Russia, the Germans fell hard and did not go past the group stage of a World Cup for the first time – just four years later, corroborating the theory, they were world champions in Brazil. The end of a cycle, of a chapter, was nearing: and it was confirmed when Joachim Löw, who had been national coach for 15 years, announced that he would step down after Euro 2020. Löw said goodbye in the round of 16 of the last Euro, when Germany was eliminated by England, and Hansi Flick it was heralded as the natural successor.

In Qatar, Löw’s former assistant who won everything with Bayern Munich will make his coaching debut in the final stages of major competitions. Although the main objective has the natural task of improving the result of four years ago, fight again to be present in the final and dream of winning the World Cup again. While they are great tools to get you there, you have an unusual mix, in Germany, by the way, between experience, with Neuer, Müller and Götze, and a new generation headed by Musiala, Havertz and Moukoko.

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