WOLFSBURG, Germany (Reuters) – Germany coach Hansi Flick said he was still the right man to lead the team after their 4-1 shock loss at home against Japan in their international friendly on Saturday and despite mounting pressure following a string of bad results.
The Germans, four-time world champions, had hoped the match would mark a new beginning for them nine months before hosting the Euro 2024 tournament. Instead it turned into a debacle and their third straight loss amid jeers and whistles from the home fans.
Flick was already in the spotlight before the match with his team having won only four of their last 16 matches before Saturday and having crashed out of the World Cup first round last year.
Their latest slip-up will only lead to louder calls for Flick’s departure.
“I know in football there is a dynamic and I cannot forecast what will happen but from my side we try everything to prepare the team well,” Flick told reporters.
“I think we are doing a good job and I think I am (the right man for the job),” he said when asked specifically about his future.
The Germans have not enjoyed any success under Flick since he took over two years ago. They crashed out of the World Cup group stage last year winning just one of three matches, and have since shown no real signs of recovery.
“I am very disappointed and we have to admit that Japan have a very good team. We don’t have the means to beat such a compact defence,” Flick said.
“We started well. But they score with their first chance, we come back and level and we felt the support, but then they score again.”
“The second half there were too many individual mistakes.”
Flick, who had started his stint with an eight-game winning run, will now have to prepare his team for an even tougher task against 2022 World Cup finalists France on Tuesday.
“We will prepare well and recover. We chose such games because we want to play against the best,” Flick said.
“Today we were not in a position to beat this team. We will prepare for France, give the team courage. That’s the daily work. I can understand the criticism.”
“We have to go through this together. We are one team. We lost heavily today but we have to shake it off and be different against France.”
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
