It’s getting serious for Marcus Sorg. A victory in Belarus is compulsory for the representative of Joachim Löw.
Perhaps the most important telephone call of his 20-year coaching career was made by Marcus Sorg late on Friday evening. Sorg contacted Joachim Löw and worked together with the sick national coach on tactics and line-up for the European Championship qualifying match in Belarus. “The last word,” assured Sorg after landing in Minsk, “has Joachim Löw.”
Sorg left nothing to chance before setting out on his adventure on Saturday (20:45 in the LIVETICKER). Before the final training session at the De Koel stadium in Venlo, he personally put up the red and yellow caps for the game forms and meticulously measured the distances with steps. Everything must be well prepared if Sorg is to fulfil the clear mandate of his boss: three more points on the way to EM 2020.
“It’s special and unusual when the head coach isn’t there. But I am convinced that we can solve it to the complete satisfaction of the national coach,” said Sorg and added: “I’m going into the game with a very good feeling.
After the last unit in the bright sunshine in the Dutch border city, captain Manuel Neuer and Co. flew from Düsseldorf to the Belarusian capital on Friday afternoon. After the opening victory in the Netherlands (3:2), the next step towards the European Championship will be taken – also for Löw.
“We want to show our coach that he can totally rely on us, even if he’s not there,” said Neuer. After the game in Borissow and on Tuesday in Mainz against Estonia Löw should be able to say: “You can rely on these players, they are good boys and great guys – and they get six points for me”.
However, the clearly favoured selection of the German Football Association (DFB) does not want to take the 81st place in the world rankings lightly. “Unfortunately, we all know too well from the 2018 World Cup what can happen if you have won almost certainly on paper,” said Ilkay Gündogan in the SID interview before the 100th European Championship qualifying game of the DFB team.
The atmosphere in the stadium with a capacity of only 13,126 spectators could also become heated. The Belarusians have been unbeaten for four home games. Löw warned against arrogance even before his failure (artery crushing). “Especially in our situation after the upheaval of sparring partners, I would like to avoid talking at all costs,” he said. His team with the many young players is “not yet so strong”.
Anything but a victory would nevertheless be a huge disappointment, even if the team still has to “mature”, as DFB Director Oliver Bierhoff put it and stated: “The upheaval is complete, the development must now take place.
For further development, the Löw/Sorg duo must answer a few questions. Is Gündogan in midfield for the missing Toni Kroo’s direction? Will Marco Reus storm instead of Timo Werner together with Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry? Is there a chain of four or three? If Löw and Sorg decide on a row of four, Matthias Ginter could replace the injured Antonio Rüdiger at Niklas Süle’s side.
The players were relaxed despite the unfamiliar situation without Löw, who for the first time in his tenure will not be in the stadium. “We have as much confidence in him as we have in Jogi,” said Julian Draxler about Sorg, who wants to play “with all his might an optimal and sovereign qualification”.
But Sorg warned against too much carelessness in the style of his boss. “We must be wide awake from the beginning and push through our game. We must force Belarus to make mistakes,” said the 53-year-old. The fact that some of his players have been without competition practice for three weeks is not an excuse for him: “The requirement profile for national players is that they can start up again and concentrate”.
According to Leon Goretzka, this was achieved during the training week. “Everyone had to be brought up to speed. That worked very well,” said the Munich native. “He is a very meticulous trainer and loves detail, which I really appreciate about him because I have the feeling that you learn something in every training session.”
