Hansi Flick vows to 'fight on' as Germany coach

"Yes, yes, I'll continue to fight," Flick told fans and journalists gathered at the team's open training session in Wolfsburg. "Things advance, that's how it is," he added after taking time to pose for selfies. In professional football, it's "difficult to predict" anything, Flick explained on the sidelines of training.

For now, everything is "business as usual," he assured fans. Flick has yet to receive the backing of the German football federation (DFB) with crisis talks on his future to he beld later on Sunday. "I find that we're doing well and I'm the right manager," Flick said during Saturday's post match press conference.

On Tuesday, Germany host France in a friendly in Dortmund. Flick coached Germany to a disappointing group stage exit at the Qatar World Cup, where his side won just one of three matches. Germany have now been eliminated at the group stage in the past two World Cups, lost to England in the round of 16 at the 2021 Euros and face a possible humiliation on home soil at the 2024 event.

However none of Flick's ten predecessors have been sacked despite some fiascos. Berti Vogts, Erich Ribbeck and Rudi Voller resigned in 1998, 2000 and 2004, after World Cup or European championships failures.

"It's logical that we all show up here. Welcome everyone, even if it's a little more difficult today," Germany national team director Voller told fans on Sunday. Of the six matches played since the 2022 World Cup, Germany have won just one against modest Peru, losing four times against Belgium, Poland, Colombia and now Japan, having snatched a draw against Ukraine.

 

September 10, 2023