After travelling under 18,600 kilometres, enduring a 25 hour journey, not having a full strength squad to choose from and only a couple of days until the first match, the preparation for the U20 World Cup in New Zealand bring many challenges for the DFB squad. But challenges are something that coach Frank Wormuth likes to take on.
Before the first match against Fiji in Christchurch on Monday, the 54-year-old sat down with DFB.de correspondent Peter Scheffler to talk about the chances of the U20’s. Wormuth also touched upon which players are still coming to the team.
DFB.de: Mr. Wormuth, your team was greeted this morning with a typical New Zealand haka dance. Has the World Cup fever begun?
Frank Wormuth: It was an amazing welcome after such a long flight, and also a positive wake up call for some. Normally when you arrive to an airport, you take your bags, get on the bus and head towards the hotel. The welcome at the airport made the team aware of two things. Firstly, that we are about to start the World Cup and secondly, that we are here in New Zealand where the haka is engraved in the culture.
DFB.de: Other teams have been in New Zealand already for weeks. Is that something negative going for your team?
Wormuth: We shall see. There is also a theory that goes: The longer the team is together, the harder it will be. Additionally, a shorter preparation keeps the intensity high. My colleague Markus Sorg won the U19 European Championship despite very little preparation, which shows that the theory can work. Naturally, every coach wants as long as possible to prepare with his team, especially if you have to play in another time zone. Sadly, it was not possible and now we will give our best. We still have six training days before we play our first match.
DFB.de: Three players are missing and will be travelling in the next couple of days. Correct?
Wormuth: Correct. Maximilian Wittek and Julian Weigl are still going to be with 1860 München for the relegation playoff. This has already been spoken with sport director Gerhard Poschner. Both players will arrive just in time for our third group match against Honduras. This also goes for Jeremy Dudziak, who will play with Dortmund in the DFB Cup against Wolfsburg this Saturday. Jeremy will return for our second group match against Uzbekistan. I hope none of these players get injured because we have 24 hours before kickoff to replace injured players. We definitely took a risk here but we are blown away with the quality of these players.
After travelling under 18,600 kilometres, enduring a 25 hour journey, not having a full strength squad to choose from and only a couple of days until the first match, the preparation for the U20 World Cup in New Zealand bring many challenges for the DFB squad. But challenges are something that coach Frank Wormuth likes to take on.
Before the first match against Fiji in Christchurch on Monday, the 54-year-old sat down with DFB.de correspondent Peter Scheffler to talk about the chances of the U20’s. Wormuth also touched upon which players are still coming to the team.
DFB.de: Mr. Wormuth, your team was greeted this morning with a typical New Zealand haka dance. Has the World Cup fever begun?
Frank Wormuth: It was an amazing welcome after such a long flight, and also a positive wake up call for some. Normally when you arrive to an airport, you take your bags, get on the bus and head towards the hotel. The welcome at the airport made the team aware of two things. Firstly, that we are about to start the World Cup and secondly, that we are here in New Zealand where the haka is engraved in the culture.
DFB.de: Other teams have been in New Zealand already for weeks. Is that something negative going for your team?
Wormuth: We shall see. There is also a theory that goes: The longer the team is together, the harder it will be. Additionally, a shorter preparation keeps the intensity high. My colleague Markus Sorg won the U19 European Championship despite very little preparation, which shows that the theory can work. Naturally, every coach wants as long as possible to prepare with his team, especially if you have to play in another time zone. Sadly, it was not possible and now we will give our best. We still have six training days before we play our first match.
DFB.de: Three players are missing and will be travelling in the next couple of days. Correct?
Wormuth: Correct. Maximilian Wittek and Julian Weigl are still going to be with 1860 München for the relegation playoff. This has already been spoken with sport director Gerhard Poschner. Both players will arrive just in time for our third group match against Honduras. This also goes for Jeremy Dudziak, who will play with Dortmund in the DFB Cup against Wolfsburg this Saturday. Jeremy will return for our second group match against Uzbekistan. I hope none of these players get injured because we have 24 hours before kickoff to replace injured players. We definitely took a risk here but we are blown away with the quality of these players.
DFB.de: Bringing a team together at the last minute does not work in your favour, right?
Wormuth: Bringing a team together has been hard for us as the whole squad has never been together. When we played in the qualifying round, we agreed with all the other countries that teams can only use players born in 1994 or 1995. We only played with players born in 1995, and they are coming to the World Cup with us.
DFB.de: Some players born in 1995 like Max Meyer, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich and Serge Gnabry are missing. Why is that?
Wormuth: Given the quality of these players they decided to play for the U21’s in the European Championship. An important job of the U20 team is to pass on the best players of one specific year to the U21’s. Our team will profit from the likes of Julian Brandt and Levin Öztunali who were born in 1996. Both of these players won the U19 European Championship last year and are now with us for the U20 World Cup.
DFB.de: Are all your players fit?
Wormuth: More or less. But, our medical staff has everything under control. Goalkeeper Michael Zetterer will miss the tournament because he broke his navicular bone, but we got Timon Wellenreuther of Schalke 04 as his replacement.
DFB.de: What are your goals for the U20 World Cup, and who are the favourites?
Wormuth: We want to finish amongst the top four, keep in mind I have no idea what our opponents are made out of. Our first goal is to finish as group winner. If we achieve that, we can stay in Christchurch for our Round of 16 and Quarter-final games. Once we have reached that stage of the tournament, then we can talk about who favourites are.
DFB.de: At least in Group F you are considered the favourites. You guys will square off against Fiji, Uzbekistan and Honduras.
Wormuth: We gladly accept this role and want to prove that we are the favourites. We know our opponents just from DVD’s. What is going to be hard in the next couple of days is to find our confidence, and then we will know where we are.
DFB.de: Do you have a certain plan for the tournament?
Wormuth: Right now I don’t. Last year we were in good shape, but right now we are missing Dudziak, Weigl and Wittek, who are three very important players. Each player has an important role in my eyes. Of course, some players are established Bundesliga players, and there quality has been shown on the highest level. The objective of the other guys will be to put pressure on these guys. As of right now, the team character is perfect and the roles will be decided sooner or later.
DFB.de: In your team there are currently five players from the Bundesliga, four from the 2 Bundesliga, five from the 3 Bundesliga, and seven from the Regional league leaving you with a very diverse squad.
Wormuth: Correct. Additionally, there was diversity amongst how each player played there season. There we some high points and some low points. Still, others have just switched to a new club, while some don`t know where they are playing next year. My talent as a psychologist is therefore required. (Laughing) Just kidding, all I am asking is that the players give 100 percent concentration and to take this massive chance serious. For some of the players, this will be the last World Cup of their careers.
