Former Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick will lead Germany into its final game for this international session against Colombia and the boss is expecting his team to be ready.
“We are looking forward to this game, it will be an exciting and important game for our path and our development. Colombia is a team that’s very aggressive off the ball. Everyone is available. All players have trained and are fit,” Flick said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia).
Even with a full roster (aside of those players already dismissed), the manager said he would lean on Malick Thiaw again on defense, along with veteran Ilkay Gündogan in the midfield.
“Malick Thiaw will play tomorrow. He did an excellent job (against Poland),” Flick said. “(Gündogan) can play in any team. He has brought quality in recent years and is an intelligent player and person who is important for me.”
As for who will don the captain’s armband, Flick said he will stick to tradition.
“I won’t change anything about that. The player who has the most caps wears the armband. That’s the tradition,” Flick said.
When asked about his job status, Flick talked about why he enjoys the position.
“I get to work with the best players in Germany. It’s all fun and I like the job. We have a European Championship, we want to celebrate and be successful — what’s happening right now is part of life and to football. I’m going my own path without compromise,” said Flick. “I’m responsible for results. I can only say that we, the coaching staff and I, are convinced of our path. We’ve also seen progress. Even though the Poland game was viewed negatively, we saw many things better than against Ukraine.”
Finally, Flick was broadsided with a question about the possibility of Germany winning the Euros next summer — and it went as expected.
“What am I supposed to answer there? It is a big wish for us. We will prepare ourselves to make sure that’s possible. Everything else is wishful thinking and doesn’t interest me,” said Flick.
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