In high spirits against Holland: Nagelsmann’s symbiosis works

After the bus ride to Amsterdam, the great tailwind from the five-goal gala against Hungary was only symbolic for Julian Nagelsmann. Gusts of wind from the nearby North Sea awaited the national coach and his magic kickers Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. It was like a signal that the duel between the two furious five-pack shooting teams could face resistance from the Dutch.

Caution? Yes. Worries? Definitely not. More like anticipation of the next exciting task. That’s how Joshua Kimmich saw it. “It will be a different opponent, a strong opponent. The Dutch are different to the Hungarians, they will be a tougher opponent. It will be interesting to see how we react,” said the captain before the always explosive football match with the European Championship semi-finalists on Tuesday (8.45 p.m./RTL) in the massive Johan Cruyff Arena.

A drop in footballing temperatures is to be avoided against the arch-rivals, who are currently preoccupied with personnel and angry debates about B striker Wout Weghorst and the discarded Steven Bergwijn. In the Nations League, which has suddenly been won, another victory in the top game of Group 3 of the A League would also be a big step towards the desired qualification for the quarter-finals in March 2025.

Musiala, a footballer who loves to play, had announced that they wanted to take the “energy” with them. A directive that he had probably received from Nagelsmann for the Oranje clash.

Because that is the national team’s big advantage as a learning effect from the home European Championship: There is a symbiosis of a national coach who sets the tone and gives clear instructions. And a team that happily absorbs and implements. This includes Nagelsmann’s dogma of not thinking in terms of problems, but solutions. And so goal-guarantor Niclas Füllkrug simply turned a potentially hesitant attitude around in the face of the strong offensive opponents including Leipzig’s Xavi Simons.

Holland is, yes, certainly, “a top team with many top players from big clubs.” But: “They now know what to expect,” said Füllkrug confidently. They have a problem, not us, is the pithy message. Here comes a German team that has undergone an incredible transformation into a team in which it is legitimate to talk about big goals like the World Cup as a matter of course. “It’s cool,” said Füllkrug about Nagelsmann’s announcement of winning the tournament in America in 2026.

Looking back: Exactly one year ago, Germany lost 4-1 to Japan. Hansi Flick was at the end of his career as national coach. Sporting director Rudi Völler, exhausted from his one-game interlude against France (2-1), called in Nagelsmann as a savior. And the German football metamorphosis began with the November dip of test defeats against Turkey (2-3) and Austria (0-2) as the only blemish.

Only five players from the starting eleven for the humiliation in Wolfsburg will be on the pitch at kick-off in Amsterdam 367 days later. However, Nagelsmann does not have to change his formation after the 5-0 turbo start against Hungary – as yet unknown medical constraints excluded – with eleven European Championship players. The new distribution of roles and tasks worked again against Hungary.

“I have the feeling that it has done us a lot of good that the squad has stayed together, that we didn’t start from scratch,” said Kimmich. “Despite the four guys who have resigned, there is still a base there.” The “four guys” who were part of it, namely the strong over-30s group Manuel Neuer, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller and Ilkay Gündogan, have not been missed so terribly since Saturday evening at the latest.

One even got the impression that there was more homogeneity in the younger group. After a free afternoon in Düsseldorf, the players casually strolled to a not-so-secret dinner with Nagelsmann and Völler at the Italian restaurant. There was a lot of smiling and laughing in the national team.

The journey to Amsterdam brought back a feeling that Kimmich had quickly forgotten. After nine home games this year, the DFB crew was travelling again. “When was our last away game?” the 29-year-old even had to ask. The answer: on March 23 in France, when Nagelsmann courageously implemented a radical personnel cut. “No, also. “You don’t have to worry about that,” Kimmich blurted out, remembering the famous 2-0 win in Lyon.

Three days later, for the first time in the purple jerseys that were still being celebrated as an innovation and provocation and with the Major Tom goal jingle, Holland was defeated 2-1 and the still slight upward trend was confirmed. Perhaps a parallel to the second game of the post-European Championship period? Füllkrug scored the winning goal in Frankfurt shortly before the end. “We did well in that game, we need to build on that and be a bit more dominant.” Then we will put in a good performance there too,” promised the center forward.