After Germany U21s‘ semi-final exit at the European Championship in the Czech Republic, DFB head coach Horst Hrubesch took questions from the media at a press conference. DFB.de gathered the most important snippets.
HORST HRUBESCH ON....
... the European Championship in the Czech Republic: “The main thing is that the young players got games at this level with us. They’ll learn from it. It’s been a long season for some players. But one shouldn’t have to apologise for it. It was certainly not down to the physical conditions of the players. I always question myself. It also speaks for us of how far we’ve come. We have power and can play at pace. It’s also good how we have done it. The players also see it that way. I really think that we’ve worked superbly. The important thing is that we are impressed of what we do.”
... the defeat to Portugal: “It was because we hadn’t managed to do it how we wanted to in our minds. You win the challenges and then immediately lose possession again. You make lots of simple mistakes. Then you build a team like this and you then get a lesson. I’ve been in football for 64 years now and I’ve gone through a few hiccups in this time. You learn from mistakes like this, I’m sure of it.”
... consequences after the semi-final exit: “We shouldn’t have to start from scratch. The lads are realists enough to know that there are days like the 7-1 win for the Germany senior side in Brazil, where everything goes right, and others where it doesn’t quite go as planned. There are days like this. We experienced that for ourselves yesterday. I’ve exprienced it often enough during my career. None of my players are egotistical or selfish. The lads have earned to have this publicity. There is not one player, who thinks that he is the biggest or the best.”
... on his future as U21s’ manager: “The job’s fun, we’ve made the best out of it. For me, it was about the Olympics as our main aim, as we said. That was our exciting task. I’m thankful that we’ve attained it. For me, I’ve decided to have a look to begin with, to see what’s after the Olympics. I have the feeling it would be pretty good if a younger manager came in. There comes the point in time when you say to yourself someone else should come in, who is a bit younger. We’ll look into it a bit more perhaps.”
... squad planning for the future: “It’s no secret that we planned it a long time ago. We were agreed on personnel. We have a squad which could be 25, 30 or even 35. We’ll go home first of all, let it all sink in and then go again.”
... on methods to cope with the tournament: “I was really happy that my son was there with his wife and child. If you have a little kiss then you don’t think about the defeat. I’m looking forward to seeing my wife and going for a walk with my dog. It’s then about having security back again for me. That’s my family. I have to ask myself what I can learn from it, what can I take with me? I want to improve too. And these experiences at the tournament can only make me better.”
... the development of the DFB youth team: “In principle, the recent tournaments have showed that’s we're there across the board. We shouldn’t measure everything and think that we’ll win every tournament. We have to look to be set up optimally. We’re lacking a couple of alternatives in a few positions, like at right-back and left-back. We probably don’t have as many alternatives in these positions than we do in midfield or in goal.”
