On 21 June this year, the Executive Committee of the German Football Association (DFB) appointed Horst Hrubesch as coach of the German U-21 national team. The 62-year-old was previously responsible for the most senior German youth side in 2009, winning that year’s UEFA European U-21 Championship in Sweden with a team captained Sami Khedira and featuring Manuel Neuer in goal.
Now the former aerial powerhouse, who scored a decisive double for West Germany in the 2-1 win against Belgium in the final of the 1980 UEFA European Championships in Rome, is aiming to qualify for the European U-21 Championship 2005 in the Czech Republic with some promising young players. The U-21 team would seal qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro by finishing at least third at the 2015 continental showpiece.
In the DFB.de Interview of the Week with reporter Maximilian Geis, Horst Hrubesch spoke about the first few weeks in his new (and old) job, the first stiff test against France in Freiburg on 13 August (from 20.30 CET) and his plans for the U-21s.
DFB.de: Horst Hrubesch, a month has now passed since you took over the U-21 team. What has happened since then?
Horst Hrubesch: We’re working with players in the 1992, 1993 and 1994 age groups together with the U-20 coach, Frank Wormuth. In the first few weeks, I was busy organising my focus areas and looking to see which players are worth considering, which meant making some telephone calls. Most of the players that travelled to the European Championships in Israel are no longer eligible to play.
DFB.de: How have you been assessing the candidates for your team?
Hrubesch: It’s a very detailed process. I know some players from the younger age groups. There are also other players I have kept in the back of my mind in the past because they have significant potential, but have since changed clubs or aren’t yet getting the right opportunities. Around 50 players are in the frame for the new U-21 team. So far, I have been concentrating my observations on games in which the lads are playing so, for example, I travelled to Hanover and elsewhere this weekend for the DFB Cup. I’m not interfering in the work of the club coaches before the start of the Bundesliga because these youngsters should be concentrating on the task in hand. I’ll visit the clubs after the first game against France, watch the lads in training and speak with them and their coaches.
DFB.de: Can you give us a basic overview of the potential of this new U-21 age group?
Hrubesch: There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of quality in this age group, but the question is how quickly a team can come together. For our first international game against a strong French side, we’re meeting up on Sunday and playing the match on Tuesday, so I’ll use most of this time to have individual discussions with the players. After that I’ll visit the clubs, and then start focusing on the start of the European Championship qualifiers in September against the Faroe Islands and the Republic of Ireland.
DFB.de: Some of these talented youngsters have already gained experience at the European U-21 Championship in Israel and are still eligible for the new U-21 team. Will these players form the backbone of your team?
Hrubesch: Of course, lads like Bernd Leno or Kevin Volland have already played for the U-21s at the highest level, but there are also some players whose potential we would like to continue to develop. I’ll give the experienced players responsibility if they put themselves forward for it, whether as leaders or team players.
DFB.de: Which of the players from the younger age groups do you see as being on their way up?
Hrubesch: I don’t want to talk about individual candidates, but the collaboration with Frank Wormuth is going well. He’s primarily focused on the 1994 age group and we’re constantly exchanging ideas.
DFB.de: So will there also be surprises among the nominations?
Hrubesch: I’m not ruling that out, but getting an overview is a never-ending job. Ultimately, we’re looking at the Bundesliga, 2nd Bundesliga and 3rd Bundesliga. We had a DFB coaches’ meeting on Friday, where we agreed the basis for our collaboration.
DFB.de: Who are the coaching team you’ll be tackling qualification with?
Hrubesch: I’ll be bringing my long-term assistant Thomas Nörenberg along with me, as he was also at my side for the U-19 title in 2008 and the U-21 title in Sweden in 2009. I’ve also got Ralf Peter from the DFB coaching team. He’ll be focusing primarily on scouting players into the team as he’s an unbelievably meticulous football coach with extensive expertise and can provide us with crucial support. There’s also Uwe Gospodarek, who was the goalkeeping coach at the European U-21 Championship in Israel.
DFB.de: What are you expecting from the team against France in Freiburg?
Hrubesch: In the week before the game, I will have whittled down our field of candidates to around 30 players, and I’ll select the matchday squad from there. Some very general questions still need to be discussed, such as who can play in which position. It’s already clear that we’ll have to try out and test some players, irrespective of experience. I know the French; they’re already playing well together because they didn’t qualify for the U-21 European Championships. As a result they’ve been able to integrate a new age group into the team over the past year, and their 1993 age group became U-20 world champions in July. It’ll be a tough nut to crack, but a good test too – after all, it’s our only international fixture before the qualifying matches begin.
DFB.de: In 2009, you had six months to prepare and plan the squad. As a coach, do you look forward to running the gauntlet of qualification so that you can form a team in the process?
Hrubesch: Definitely. In 2009 I was closer to the players as in some cases I’d overseen their development for several years, and that was definitely an advantage. Now the situation has completely changed for me, but what was true then is true now: you can’t build a team without taking personality and character traits into account. The U-21 and U-19 European champions set the precedent back then: a major target has to take priority over everything else. We’ll be able to make some interim conclusions after the first six months.
DFB.de: Will you be taking things one step at a time, or will you also discuss the long-term goals of the U-21 EURO in 2015 and the 2016 Olympic Games when you sit down with the players?
Hrubesch: There’s no need to discuss whether we can make it through our qualification group but, for me, what’s crucial is how we approach each individual match. I don’t think it makes sense to prepare for international games without a major overriding target. Of course, qualifying for the Olympics will be a huge task, as we haven’t managed it since 1988. It’ll be a long and difficult journey that we want to tackle one step at a time.
DFB.de: Are you attempting to set any targets yet?
Hrubesch: We’ve got to improve the quality of the team with each match we play and keep in mind what we want to achieve, which means progressing from the group stages of the European Championships in the Czech Republic into the knockout stages. Once we’re there, we don’t want to sit back and settle for finishing third to qualify for the Olympics. We want to try and win the title, and the same goes for Rio de Janeiro.
created by dfb
[bild1]
On 21 June this year, the Executive Committee of the German Football Association (DFB) appointed Horst Hrubesch as coach of the German U-21 national team. The 62-year-old was previously responsible for the most senior German youth side in 2009, winning that year’s UEFA European U-21 Championship in Sweden with a team captained Sami Khedira and featuring Manuel Neuer in goal.
Now the former aerial powerhouse, who scored a decisive double for West Germany in the 2-1 win against Belgium in the final of the 1980 UEFA European Championships in Rome, is aiming to qualify for the European U-21 Championship 2005 in the Czech Republic with some promising young players. The U-21 team would seal qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro by finishing at least third at the 2015 continental showpiece.
In the DFB.de Interview of the Week with reporter Maximilian Geis, Horst Hrubesch spoke about the first few weeks in his new (and old) job, the first stiff test against France in Freiburg on 13 August (from 20.30 CET) and his plans for the U-21s.
DFB.de: Horst Hrubesch, a month has now passed since you took over the U-21 team. What has happened since then?
Horst Hrubesch: We’re working with players in the 1992, 1993 and 1994 age groups together with the U-20 coach, Frank Wormuth. In the first few weeks, I was busy organising my focus areas and looking to see which players are worth considering, which meant making some telephone calls. Most of the players that travelled to the European Championships in Israel are no longer eligible to play.
DFB.de: How have you been assessing the candidates for your team?
Hrubesch: It’s a very detailed process. I know some players from the younger age groups. There are also other players I have kept in the back of my mind in the past because they have significant potential, but have since changed clubs or aren’t yet getting the right opportunities. Around 50 players are in the frame for the new U-21 team. So far, I have been concentrating my observations on games in which the lads are playing so, for example, I travelled to Hanover and elsewhere this weekend for the DFB Cup. I’m not interfering in the work of the club coaches before the start of the Bundesliga because these youngsters should be concentrating on the task in hand. I’ll visit the clubs after the first game against France, watch the lads in training and speak with them and their coaches.
DFB.de: Can you give us a basic overview of the potential of this new U-21 age group?
Hrubesch: There’s no doubt that there’s a lot of quality in this age group, but the question is how quickly a team can come together. For our first international game against a strong French side, we’re meeting up on Sunday and playing the match on Tuesday, so I’ll use most of this time to have individual discussions with the players. After that I’ll visit the clubs, and then start focusing on the start of the European Championship qualifiers in September against the Faroe Islands and the Republic of Ireland.
DFB.de: Some of these talented youngsters have already gained experience at the European U-21 Championship in Israel and are still eligible for the new U-21 team. Will these players form the backbone of your team?
[bild2]
Hrubesch: Of course, lads like Bernd Leno or Kevin Volland have already played for the U-21s at the highest level, but there are also some players whose potential we would like to continue to develop. I’ll give the experienced players responsibility if they put themselves forward for it, whether as leaders or team players.
DFB.de: Which of the players from the younger age groups do you see as being on their way up?
Hrubesch: I don’t want to talk about individual candidates, but the collaboration with Frank Wormuth is going well. He’s primarily focused on the 1994 age group and we’re constantly exchanging ideas.
DFB.de: So will there also be surprises among the nominations?
Hrubesch: I’m not ruling that out, but getting an overview is a never-ending job. Ultimately, we’re looking at the Bundesliga, 2nd Bundesliga and 3rd Bundesliga. We had a DFB coaches’ meeting on Friday, where we agreed the basis for our collaboration.
DFB.de: Who are the coaching team you’ll be tackling qualification with?
Hrubesch: I’ll be bringing my long-term assistant Thomas Nörenberg along with me, as he was also at my side for the U-19 title in 2008 and the U-21 title in Sweden in 2009. I’ve also got Ralf Peter from the DFB coaching team. He’ll be focusing primarily on scouting players into the team as he’s an unbelievably meticulous football coach with extensive expertise and can provide us with crucial support. There’s also Uwe Gospodarek, who was the goalkeeping coach at the European U-21 Championship in Israel.
DFB.de: What are you expecting from the team against France in Freiburg?
Hrubesch: In the week before the game, I will have whittled down our field of candidates to around 30 players, and I’ll select the matchday squad from there. Some very general questions still need to be discussed, such as who can play in which position. It’s already clear that we’ll have to try out and test some players, irrespective of experience. I know the French; they’re already playing well together because they didn’t qualify for the U-21 European Championships. As a result they’ve been able to integrate a new age group into the team over the past year, and their 1993 age group became U-20 world champions in July. It’ll be a tough nut to crack, but a good test too – after all, it’s our only international fixture before the qualifying matches begin.
DFB.de: In 2009, you had six months to prepare and plan the squad. As a coach, do you look forward to running the gauntlet of qualification so that you can form a team in the process?
Hrubesch: Definitely. In 2009 I was closer to the players as in some cases I’d overseen their development for several years, and that was definitely an advantage. Now the situation has completely changed for me, but what was true then is true now: you can’t build a team without taking personality and character traits into account. The U-21 and U-19 European champions set the precedent back then: a major target has to take priority over everything else. We’ll be able to make some interim conclusions after the first six months.
DFB.de: Will you be taking things one step at a time, or will you also discuss the long-term goals of the U-21 EURO in 2015 and the 2016 Olympic Games when you sit down with the players?
Hrubesch: There’s no need to discuss whether we can make it through our qualification group but, for me, what’s crucial is how we approach each individual match. I don’t think it makes sense to prepare for international games without a major overriding target. Of course, qualifying for the Olympics will be a huge task, as we haven’t managed it since 1988. It’ll be a long and difficult journey that we want to tackle one step at a time.
DFB.de: Are you attempting to set any targets yet?
Hrubesch: We’ve got to improve the quality of the team with each match we play and keep in mind what we want to achieve, which means progressing from the group stages of the European Championships in the Czech Republic into the knockout stages. Once we’re there, we don’t want to sit back and settle for finishing third to qualify for the Olympics. We want to try and win the title, and the same goes for Rio de Janeiro.
