MY ACCOUNT
Hansi Flick praised Germany’s mentality and remains upbeat despite their World Cup destiny no longer being in their hands after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Spain.
Niclas Fullkrug cancelled out Alvaro Morata’s earlier effort to earn a point but, following the 2-1 defeat by Japan, the four-time champions have failed to win their opening two matches at the finals for the first time.
Die Nationalmannschaft must beat Costa Rica in their final Group E match to stand any chance of progressing to the last 16, while hoping the Samurai Blue fail to beat La Roja in the other showdown.
Addressing the media during his post-match conference: Flick said: “The team maintained a great level. I am very satisfied with the mentality and the team’s work today. This was a match on a high level.
“Those are things we want to see from this team, but this was only a first step. We want to see [more in the] next match and create the conditions to go through
“Spain are a great team with many young players, some experienced players, they’re technically very refined. They started well, but we pushed against them.
“We were also able to defend well, we went in hard. But this is an opponent who plays so freely with great qualities, they are difficult to defend against, and we need to work on that and improve in defence.
“But what’s important is the mentality was there. They showed they want to get points, create chances and that’s what we did, that’s why we’re more than satisfied with the result.”
Germany are aiming to avoid falling at the first hurdle in successive finals, having also crashed out in the group stages in Russia four years ago.
But Flick remains optimistic, and believes a repeat of the character demonstrated in the Spain draw will stand his side in good stead.
“In these matches, there are things to do better, but I am very upbeat,” he added. “Maybe, this result will help us improve morale for the future. I liked the mentality of the team during the 90 minutes and that’s what we have to show.”
