He played the most minutes out of any Germany international in 2015, and it was no surprise that he was included in Joachim Löw’s European Championship squad. Jonas Hector wasn’t an established international in Brazil in 2014, but now he is one of the first names on the teamsheet. He has played the full 90 minutes in both of Germany’s games so far in France, and in an interview with DFB.de and Steffen Lüdeke, the 26-year-old discusses his first major tournament with Germany, the level of football being played, and the final group match against Northern Ireland (Tuesday, 18:00 CEST).
DFB.de: Mr. Hector, a little test to begin: Paul Breitner, Bernhard Dietz, Christian Ziege – what do these three players have in common?
Jonas
Hector: They are all international players, like myself. All left footed, although I may be wrong. I’m not sure what else.
DFB.de: They were the three left backs for Germany’s three European Championship titles; Breitner 1972, Dietz 1980, Ziege 1996.
Hector: Good to know - although I am no European champion. It would of course be amazing to add my name to that list. We have a long way to go, and at the moment we are all focused on Tuesday’s game against Northern Ireland.
DFB.de: Die Mannschaft had the day off on Saturday, what did you do with your free time?
Hector: My girlfriend was here, and we went out together. We had a lovely day, and it did me a lot of good to not just be thinking about football.
DFB.de: Joachim Löw has spoken before about the importance of the players keeping their heads clear. You have done exactly that.
Hector: Absolutely.
DFB.de: The team came under criticism following the match against Poland. Were you surprised the manager still gave you all the day off?
Hector: No, not at all. His decisions aren’t affected by external criticism. That’s part and parcel of a tournament. It’s a case of managing tiredness.
DFB.de: The European Championships in France is your first major tournament as a player. How are you coping with the busy summer?
Hector: It’s a challenge, especially as we often don’t have many days to recover in between games. We need to work extra hard on recovery after matches, myself in particular. I have already mentioned this side of the tournament, and I am very pleased that the medical staff and management have so much experience in this area. I trust their judgment completely. In Ascona I sat out a couple of days which was exactly the right thing to do.
DFB.de: On Saturday you spent time with your girlfriend. How else do you spend your free time with the team? It can’t all be on the training pitch…
Hector: The weather hasn’t really allowed us to do much outdoors unfortunately. We have watched the matches every afternoon, there are worse things to do. We also have a snooker table, pool table and table tennis table – boredom is not an issue.
DFB.de: You watch the other matches in the tournament. What players do you pay close attention to, the right wingers and wing forwards or the left backs?
Hector: I don’t really watch specific positions, not even the left backs. I just try to enjoy the games, and I struggle to do that when taking a more analytical approach. Having said that, you get a good impression of the teams as a whole.
DFB.de: You were very emotional ahead of the match against Ukraine – your first ever European Championship game.
Hector: That may well be.
DFB.de: Because the tournament is bigger than anything you’ve experienced before professionally?
Hector: International games are always special. I don’t think playing for Germany will ever become mundane. The European Championship is though a level above. You realise very quickly how much it means to German people, and how much interest there is. I have experienced this first hand, through messages from my friends, and on the television and in the newspapers. I am savouring every moment.
DFB.de: How high has the level been so far?
Hector: There are a lot of tight games, as the supposed ‘small’ teams are defending very well. Every team is good enough to hurt defences on the break.
DFB.de: We haven’t seen many goals so far, with an average of under two per game. Do you think it has been a tournament for defenders so far?
Hector: If the statistics back it up then I suppose there’s a case to be made - although I don’t like to talk about specific parts of teams. The defending so far has been good, but that comes down to the team as a whole.
DFB.de: The German strikers have received the most criticism so far this summer…
Hector: The team defends as a whole, and we adopted a slightly more attacking approach in the match against Poland compared to the one against Ukraine. We now have to make sure we create more chances against Northern Ireland, but without losing our defensive stability.
DFB.de: Joachim Löw promised a win against Northern Ireland – are you equally optimistic?
Hector: Of course.
created by mmc/wh
He played the most minutes out of any Germany international in 2015, and it was no surprise that he was included in Joachim Löw’s European Championship squad. Jonas Hector wasn’t an established international in Brazil in 2014, but now he is one of the first names on the teamsheet. He has played the full 90 minutes in both of Germany’s games so far in France, and in an interview with DFB.de and Steffen Lüdeke, the 26-year-old discusses his first major tournament with Germany, the level of football being played, and the final group match against Northern Ireland (Tuesday, 18:00 CEST).
DFB.de: Mr. Hector, a little test to begin: Paul Breitner, Bernhard Dietz, Christian Ziege – what do these three players have in common?
Jonas
Hector: They are all international players, like myself. All left footed, although I may be wrong. I’m not sure what else.
DFB.de: They were the three left backs for Germany’s three European Championship titles; Breitner 1972, Dietz 1980, Ziege 1996.
Hector: Good to know - although I am no European champion. It would of course be amazing to add my name to that list. We have a long way to go, and at the moment we are all focused on Tuesday’s game against Northern Ireland.
DFB.de: Die Mannschaft had the day off on Saturday, what did you do with your free time?
Hector: My girlfriend was here, and we went out together. We had a lovely day, and it did me a lot of good to not just be thinking about football.
DFB.de: Joachim Löw has spoken before about the importance of the players keeping their heads clear. You have done exactly that.
Hector: Absolutely.
DFB.de: The team came under criticism following the match against Poland. Were you surprised the manager still gave you all the day off?
Hector: No, not at all. His decisions aren’t affected by external criticism. That’s part and parcel of a tournament. It’s a case of managing tiredness.
DFB.de: The European Championships in France is your first major tournament as a player. How are you coping with the busy summer?
Hector: It’s a challenge, especially as we often don’t have many days to recover in between games. We need to work extra hard on recovery after matches, myself in particular. I have already mentioned this side of the tournament, and I am very pleased that the medical staff and management have so much experience in this area. I trust their judgment completely. In Ascona I sat out a couple of days which was exactly the right thing to do.
DFB.de: On Saturday you spent time with your girlfriend. How else do you spend your free time with the team? It can’t all be on the training pitch…
Hector: The weather hasn’t really allowed us to do much outdoors unfortunately. We have watched the matches every afternoon, there are worse things to do. We also have a snooker table, pool table and table tennis table – boredom is not an issue.
DFB.de: You watch the other matches in the tournament. What players do you pay close attention to, the right wingers and wing forwards or the left backs?
Hector: I don’t really watch specific positions, not even the left backs. I just try to enjoy the games, and I struggle to do that when taking a more analytical approach. Having said that, you get a good impression of the teams as a whole.
DFB.de: You were very emotional ahead of the match against Ukraine – your first ever European Championship game.
Hector: That may well be.
DFB.de: Because the tournament is bigger than anything you’ve experienced before professionally?
Hector: International games are always special. I don’t think playing for Germany will ever become mundane. The European Championship is though a level above. You realise very quickly how much it means to German people, and how much interest there is. I have experienced this first hand, through messages from my friends, and on the television and in the newspapers. I am savouring every moment.
DFB.de: How high has the level been so far?
Hector: There are a lot of tight games, as the supposed ‘small’ teams are defending very well. Every team is good enough to hurt defences on the break.
DFB.de: We haven’t seen many goals so far, with an average of under two per game. Do you think it has been a tournament for defenders so far?
Hector: If the statistics back it up then I suppose there’s a case to be made - although I don’t like to talk about specific parts of teams. The defending so far has been good, but that comes down to the team as a whole.
DFB.de: The German strikers have received the most criticism so far this summer…
Hector: The team defends as a whole, and we adopted a slightly more attacking approach in the match against Poland compared to the one against Ukraine. We now have to make sure we create more chances against Northern Ireland, but without losing our defensive stability.
DFB.de: Joachim Löw promised a win against Northern Ireland – are you equally optimistic?
Hector: Of course.
