National soccer team: RB agreement: Klopp’s final showdown for the national coaching job

Now there are practically no doubts left. Germany should have a national coach again in just a few days. Jurgen Klopp spoke of a few open details shortly before the kick-off of the World Cup final and yet gave the starting signal for his time as the new head coach of the national soccer team directly in front of the final arena just outside New York.

After a clarifying conversation with Red Bull about his work as global head of football for the Brause empire, which was actually scheduled to run until 2029, the ideal candidate is free for the hoped-for rescue of those who had already failed early on at the World Cup DFB eleven. “I have found an agreement and a regulation with Red Bull, a very, very generous regulation, if you will,” said Klopp in front of the entrance to the huge concrete bowl in East Rutherford.

Announcement in TV conversation

However, the 59-year-old also noted that there is still a bit of work to be done before the signature and presentation on the DFB campus in Frankfurt. “Nothing is final and that’s just the way it is. That’s the way it is, the discussions were going on and everything is going in the right direction,” said Klopp in the recorded TV conversation with Johannes B. Kerner and Laura Wontorra before his final expert assignment at the XXL World Cup for MagentaTV.

As usual, casual in his black T-shirt and his broad smile, Klopp spoke about his upcoming task and also made fun of a few indiscretions of the past few days, which he blamed quite bluntly on his future employer. Too much information about the negotiations had leaked out. “Whether they are right or wrong remains to be seen,” said Klopp shortly before the final show between Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Lamine Yamal’s Spain.

But the practical fact is: Klopp, who was chosen to save German football, will embark on the biggest coaching mission of his career after the American weeks, which were unnerving for the black, red and gold fans. The official completion, including the presentation in Frankfurt, should be on Friday at the latest. This is the master plan. “Nothing has been decided, but we are not far away from announcing something,” said Klopp.

Klopp’s return to the final show

In recent, unusually quiet days, there had been no water level reports from more or less official sources in the national coach case until his return to the screen on MagentaTV. But business matters were taken care of in the background.

Klopp’s conversation with Red Bull boss Oliver Mintzlaff is now over. Then it was probably just about asserting mutual appreciation. The DFB kept a low profile on Sunday. “The DFB is not commenting on the current status of negotiations with Jürgen Klopp. The responsible committees will make a final decision,” the DFB told the German Press Agency upon request.

In the coming days everything will boil down to a final meeting of the supervisory boards and the shareholders of DFB GmbH and Co. KG, whose approval on national coaching issues is required by the association’s statutes. The officials usually meet digitally. The virtual meeting is called by DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, who has so far led through the crisis in a matter-of-fact way.

According to some others at the DFB headquarters, the Klopp announcement is not happening quickly enough. None of the association’s leadership attended the final in New Jersey as FIFA boss Gianni Infantino’s guests, and the DFB was also conspicuous by its absence at this level of football decision-making. Neuendorf, a member of the FIFA Council, was also missing.

Snapshot of Nagelsmann

German football can use good headlines. The intermediate round knockout is still too present. against Paraguay, which marked the quick end of Julian Nagelsmann’s era National coach sealed.

Otherwise, the story about the cockroaches in the DFB hotel in North Carolina only dominates all events. The sporting failure was least due to the unpleasant pests. Klopp and cockroaches, the state of German football these days can be symbolically reduced to this reductive alliteration. You are much further away from Messi than the center circle is from the edge of the pitch.

Klopp himself described the task early on. «It’s about a lot. Whoever does it has a lot to do,” he said shortly after the failure in Foxborough. It was already clear that everything was going to happen to him. That formulation sounds like a hedge. Of course, the success coach knows what risk he is taking. On Sunday he noted that there were only around 60 days until the next international match in the Netherlands. Then with him in the dugout.

Experts with harsh words

There are also enough prominent statements to ensure the status quo. Jürgen Klinsmann, the creator of the 2006 summer fairy tale, and Philipp Lahm, the last victorious German World Cup captain in 2014, are important voices in the cacophony of experts.

“We are now absolutely mediocre, completely lost somewhere,” said Klinsmann on Sport1. You have to be “ashamed” now. His verdict on the DFB stars: “They were too soft, they weren’t able to suffer or even extend their elbows and gain respect,” Klinsmann told the TV channel Sky.

The 61-year-old cited the Messi clan as a role model in this regard. “What the Argentinians have shown the whole world in this tournament is simple: Maybe we are not the best team, but we are ready to go to the limits and beyond and decide games in the last minutes,” said Klinsmann.

The DFB selection has also been able to do this in the past. Klopp will have to go back there. “I really want it because he is a guy who can make a new start like this, because he has the energy, the positive way to bring other people on board,” explained Klinsmann.

Lahm no longer wants “special routes”.

Lahm’s order to Klopp is also clear. “What counts for me is clarity and order,” he wrote in a guest article in the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. Nagelsmann I did too many experiments and used too many players in the wrong positions. Instead of taking “special paths”, one must keep an eye on world football. Klopp already had that in his World Cup job.

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