Nagelsmann upbeat despite France defeat: Good for the overall feeling
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is pictured during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Germany and France at Stuttgart Arena. Federico Gambarini/dpa
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann entered the Nations League finals with the intention to deliver a first title since 2017 but then refused to be too downcast after it all went up in smoke.
Nagelsmann rather wanted to see the positives from a 2-0 defeat against France in Sunday's match for third place, which came on the heels of a 2-1 semi-final loss against Portugal.
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While the team lacked in almost every aspect on Wednesday in Munich, there was determination and some creativity in Stuttgart where they were however too wasteful, especially in the opening minutes.
"The game did us good as far as the overall feeling is concerned, but the result obviously not," Nagelsmann told broadcasters RTL.
Looking at World Cup qualifying against Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg in autumn, he said: "If we are ready not to invest less than today in the qualifiers then we will win the games."
Nagelsmann highlighted that "we showed that we can create chances against top teams despite missing several players" while also conceding that "we must score against such top teams."
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Germany were missing the likes of centre back Antonio Rüdiger, creative Jamal Musiala and forward Kai Havertz for the mini tournament.
Nick Woltemade, Karim Adeyemi, Pascal Gross and Niclas Füllkrug had top early chances, and Florian Wirtz hit the post, before France captain Kylian Mbappé scored just before half-time and then set up Michael Olise late on for the second.
Germany also had to swallow two video review decisions against them when a penalty call and a goal were nullified.
France however could have also scored more in the second half as Nagelsmann admitted "we wanted to force things."
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Captain Joshua Kimmich said: "If you look at the first half, I think we should have been 3-0 up after six minutes. In the second half we lost patience."
Germany lost two games in a row for the first time since the early days of Nagelsmann's reign when they were beaten by Turkey and Austria in November 2023.
The team has made huge progress since then, with their only defeat prior to this week coming against eventual champions Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
The Nations League shows that Germany may not have enough depth like other big teams and that a 100% effort is required in every match against such high quality opponents.
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The Bild paper said on its website that "many question marks remain ahead of the 2026 World Cup", where four-time champions Germany are desperate to do better than in their group stage exits in 2018 and 2022.
"Are we perhaps not able to match the real top teams?" Bild asked, while for Kicker sports magazine this is a fact: "A lot is missing from the world's best."
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