Jürgen Klopp is of course also in favor of the Olympic Games in Germany. He told the ARD‑Sportschau how, as a five-year-old, he traveled with his father to the 1972 games in Munich. "I would be convinced that we would be a wonderful country to host the Olympic Games, to invite the world to Germany and to show our most beautiful face." That settles that.
It would also have been unusual if the national coach hadn't commented on this topic these days. Jürgen Klopp is everywhere at the moment. His name has appeared more than 60 times in the news agencies dpa and SID just this weekend. The most important thing doesn't happen until the evening: Klopp's home debut as national coach against Greece in Augsburg (kick-off 8:45 p.m., ARD and in the live ticker on SPIEGEL.de).
What's it about tonight?
It is the second game of the Nations League group stage for the German team. After the 1-1 draw in the Netherlands on Thursday in Amsterdam, the team is hoping for its first win under Klopp today. In addition to Orange and Greece, Serbia is also the group opponent of the Germans. The Serbs are the next opponents on October 1st in Munich.
Speaking to the press on Saturday, Klopp ennobled the current Greek team as the “golden generation”. He took the fact that he criticized the fact that no German journalist had asked about the Greeks at the press conference so far as a sign that the public had not yet taken note of this upswing. No appearance by Klopp without a swipe at the media. That is the basic law.
The former Düsseldorf player Christos Tsolis has now made it to Arsenal FC via the 2nd Bundesliga and FC Bruges and can be described as the star of the team. The Greeks' most dangerous striker also has a German past. Vangelis Pavlidis was once under contract with VfL Bochum and with the BVB second team. But he first caught fire as an attacker at AZ Alkmaar, and now he scores his goals for Benfica.
Who plays for Germany? And who doesn't?
By dividing the giant squad into two groups, Jürgen Klopp left out players like Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl and Aleksandar Pavlović, as well as David Raum and Nick Woltemade. They will only be taken into account in the games against Serbia and the second leg in Greece. This should actually also apply to Florian Wirtz and Frankfurt's Jonathan Burkardt. However, since both Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz were injured against the Netherlands, the two players from Squad II were moved up to Squad I at short notice. However, Klopp has announced that both will sit on the bench for the time being.
He also removed Dortmund's Nico Schlotterbeck from the Netherlands offer, whom he was giving a break after his long-term injury. There is also a change in goal: Alexander Nübel replaces Marc-André ter Stegen, who revealed light and shadow against the Netherlands. However, the waiver of Ter Stegen has nothing to do with his performance, Klopp emphasized to the public.
A starting eleven that is rather inexperienced in international matches will start in Augsburg in the evening. Joshua Kimmich and Felix Nmecha form the double six, which should probably last in the long term. But around them there is an eleven with numerous professionals who were not at the World Cup: In addition to Jonathan Tah, the Italian professional Yann-Auel Bisseck is expected in central defense. The trio of Kevin Schade, Karim Adeyemi and Younes Ebnoutalib should storm up front. Together the three make 20 DFB appearances.
Augsburg as an international match city?
The Augsburg location already has something special to offer: For the first time in a long time, there will be standing room again at this international match in Germany. This is a conscious step to increase fan support, says Klopp. »The atmosphere in the stadium has a dramatic impact on performance. People standing, that's where the noise comes from." It's important that "the right people" are in the stadium, then the appropriate atmosphere can be guaranteed.
Augsburg has not been a frequent international match city. It is the sixth time that the men's team has stopped here. The last appearance to date was more than ten years ago. In preparation for the 2016 European Championship, the DFB team lost 1:3 to Slovakia. What is remembered is less the game than the cloudburst that interrupted the game for more than 30 minutes. Joshua Kimmich was already there back then.
Greece had already been opponents in Augsburg: in 1961, the DFB team won 2-1 with two Uwe Seeler goals.
Who will referee the game?
The referee is an old acquaintance of Jürgen Klopp from the Premier League, the Englishman Christopher Kavanagh. Klopp wouldn't be Klopp if he hadn't clashed with Kavanagh in the past. At the Carabao Cup final of his Liverpool FC against Chelsea FC, Klopp degraded the refereeing as “not up to the level of the game”.
Who is the favorite?
It's Jürgen Klopp's home debut, so everything will be done to keep the euphoria in the stadium high. You can imagine what the DFB stadium announcers will say in advance. The record against the Greeks speaks for itself: so far they have met ten times and the DFB team has not lost a single game.
Klopp said that ideally none of the Greeks' strengths would be seen because the DFB team wouldn't let it happen. “That will be the case in the future,” Klopp leaned out of the window, “but we will see whether it will be the case tomorrow.” Basically, after the draw in Amsterdam, we will aim to “not play a draw 500 times now.”
