Leroy Sane was the focus of the 2-0 victory of the German national team in the European Championship qualification in Belarus. However, it was not so much his strong performance that was at stake as his future. Meanwhile, you can hold on: It’s also possible without Joachim Löw.
When Leroy Sane left the Borissow Arena after midnight, the waiting fans screamed. But he dribbled them around just as skilfully as his opponents and journalists hoping for answers had done before – and boarded the waiting team bus with a drinks bottle in his right hand and his toiletry bag in his left.
Despite his leading goal in the 2:0 (1:0) victory of the DFB team in the European Championship qualification in Belarus, the 23-year-old did not want to talk. Sane knew exactly that the questions were less about his fourth goal in the 20th international and more about his future.
Sometimes it gets hard and annoying when you get asked the 50th question and have to say again and again: “I won’t say anything about it”, said national team director Oliver Bierhoff.
Therefore, Sane, who had been hotly courted by the German soccer record champion Bayern Munich, only twittered and wrote to a photo showing him cheering with Joshua Kimmich: “Another step in the right direction”.
But what is the right direction for the offensive player? Is he fulfilling his contract with English champions Manchester City, which runs until June 2021, in spite of his recent short time under team manager Pep Guardiola? Or is he returning to the Bundesliga? For Kimmich, the answer is clear. Sane is a young German player with great potential, Kimmich said. His conclusion: “If I were you, I’d buy it.”
Sane’s future remains a big issue for the team before the next European Championship qualifier on Tuesday in Mainz against Estonia. The picture already wrote of a “cabin fight” for the fast striker. The six Munich men in the squad want to convince Sane to switch to the Isar, while Ilkay Gündogan is against it. “I don’t know much, but I know a little. I currently assume that Leroy will remain,” said Sane’s club colleague.
Substitute national coach Marcus Sorg remains calm. He’s only interested in Sane’s performance. This was true in Belarus, even though Sane was somewhat missing the rooms to shine and he had bad luck with a header at the post. “He kept flashing in the game what he was made of,” Sorg said.
The 53-year-old does not believe that Sane could be distracted by the discussions around him. “He acted very normally with the boys. He was also not burdened in any way during training,” said Sorg.
But after the match against Estonia Sane will have to comment on his future at some point. He himself is still undecided. The Bavarians want to convince the player and then enter the negotiations with City.
“He wasn’t always allowed to play at City – especially in the important games – which I personally can’t understand,” Kimmich continued to advertise diligently. Julian Draxler follows the developments as an uninvolved person with humour. “The last few days I’ve only addressed him with ‘Mia san mia’,” joked the national player from Paris St. Germain.
As confusing as the situation around Sane is at the moment, so clear was the result of Sorg’s coaching debut. Joachim Löw had prepared his mobile phone as an “emergency variant” – but when the national coach finally rang through in Borissow, he was relieved to send congratulations.
“We spoke, he congratulated us, was very satisfied,” Sorg said with obvious pride after the nightly telephone call with his boss. After the sovereign 2:0 (1:0) of his rejuvenated national soccer team in Belarus, Löw went to bed “completely relaxed”, reported Oliver Bierhoff.
The DFB director said that the national coach would certainly spend the days until the Estonian match “calmer” in sick leave. And Löw has good reason for this: One year after the World Cup disaster, his newly formed selection has made a perfect start with six points, even without his direct involvement on the way to the European Championship 2020. And his “young savages” mature.
This was also observed in the Borissow Arena a good hour’s drive east of Minsk. With captain Manuel Neuer in the goal, who even shone as the dribbling king at the goal line, the bear-strong defensive boss Niklas Süle and driving Kimmich a new, stable axle has emerged.
And at the front not only the scorers Sane (12th) and Marco Reus (62nd) managed to find gaps again and again despite their opponent’s ultra-defensive orientation.
Bierhoff was therefore not surprised after the 71st victory in the 100th EM-Qualispiel that there was “no message” from Löw during the game. “The emergency variant was not necessary,” he reported with satisfaction.
And so, on Sunday after the regeneration, Sorg gathered a good-humoured travel group in the hotel and on the grounds of the Belarusian federation for the departure to Frankfurt. “You can tell something’s growing together here. The players get along well, they want to build something. This was also evident in the game,” Bierhoff said.
Of course, the much-quoted automatisms would have to “play in a little bit, but that was definitely the right direction”.
In any case, the sporting balance is right. The first big step was the 3-2 win for arch-rival Netherlands, Draxler said, “we gold plated it today”. With the 13th consecutive victory in a qualifying game, the record from the years 2010 to 2012 was also set. The best mark and the further growing together should be achieved against the Estonians, number 96 of the world ranking list.
The mood is good, said Kimmich, “we know and appreciate each other very much and also like each other, there we have a good constellation”. Who takes which role in the hierarchy, crystallizes itself in the end with the games out. Six more qualifying matches and the test in October against Lionel Messis Argentina will give the younger team time to become one for the European Championship year 2020. The declared goal: title readiness.
