Sorg: It’s important to get to know the team quickly and create team spirit. We did well but a few of the players need to take on a bit more responsibility but this will come with time. I think the players will have learned a lot from this experience and will continue to do so.
DFB.de: Do you feel more pressure seeing as you’re going into the tournament as defending champions?
Sorg: The biggest pressure is the one that you place upon yourself. I wanted to qualify for the tournament as for me that’s incredibly important.
DFB.de: What is the plan ahead of the tournament?
Sorg: We’re looking forward to the draw. We’ll then travel around the country to work out who are the best players to take with us to the tournament. They have three months to impress us and develop a bit more. This will help improve the team. Anything is possible at the tournament.
Thanks to a 6-0 victory over the Czech Republic yesterday the Germany U19s reached this summer’s European Championship. Head coach Marcus Sorg spoke to DFB.de after the game about his team’s performance.
DFB.de: Despite a few issues your team reached the tournament. What are your thoughts on that?
Marcus Sorg: I’m proud of the lads because they’ve done well. They overcame tricky situations in all three games. Against Slovakia we conceded in injury time, we were losing at one point against Ireland and we knew we had to score a lot of goals against the Czech Republic. The team overcame these hurdles well though.
DFB.de: Were you aware of what was going in the other game?
Sorg: We didn’t know what was going on, which was my choice. It was important to do our job regardless of what was going on and we managed to do that.
DFB.de: What are your opinions on the side?
Sorg: We have a lot of quality and achieved a lot with minimal preparation. They took a lot of responsibility on board and performed well. It was important to qualify for the tournament as it will help the players develop. We’ll come up against some good teams and play on a big stage. We host the tournament next year so we’ll have qualified for three successive tournaments, which is important.
DFB.de: How did you manage to create such a good team in a short space of time?
Sorg: It’s important to get to know the team quickly and create team spirit. We did well but a few of the players need to take on a bit more responsibility but this will come with time. I think the players will have learned a lot from this experience and will continue to do so.
DFB.de: Do you feel more pressure seeing as you’re going into the tournament as defending champions?
Sorg: The biggest pressure is the one that you place upon yourself. I wanted to qualify for the tournament as for me that’s incredibly important.
DFB.de: What is the plan ahead of the tournament?
Sorg: We’re looking forward to the draw. We’ll then travel around the country to work out who are the best players to take with us to the tournament. They have three months to impress us and develop a bit more. This will help improve the team. Anything is possible at the tournament.
