After Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Spain, Germany’s World Cup fate was no longer in their hands, but Hansi Flick praised Germany’s mentality and expressed optimism despite this.
The four-time champions have now lost both of their opening two games in a finals for the first time after Niclas Fullkrug canceled out Alvaro Morata’s earlier attempt to earn a point. In order to have a chance of making it out of Group E, Die Nationalmannschaft must defeat Costa Rica and hope that La Roja wins against Japan.
Flick spoke to the media during his post-game press conference: “The team maintained a great level. I am very satisfied with the mentality and the team’s work today. This was a match on a high level.
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“Those are things we want to see from this team, but this was only a first step. We want to see [more in the] next match and create the conditions to go through
“Spain are a great team with many young players, some experienced players, they’re technically very refined. They started well, but we pushed against them.
“We were also able to defend well, we went in hard. But this is an opponent who plays so freely with great qualities, they are difficult to defend against, and we need to work on that and improve in defence.
“But what’s important is the mentality was there. They showed they want to get points, create chances and that’s what we did, that’s why we’re more than satisfied with the result.”
Germany wants to avoid losing in the opening round of consecutive finals after losing in the group stage in Russia four years ago. But Flick isn’t giving up; he thinks his team will do well if they show the same perseverance they did in the Spain match.
“In these matches, there are things to do better, but I am very upbeat,” he added. “Maybe, this result will help us improve morale for the future. I liked the mentality of the team during the 90 minutes and that’s what we have to show.”
