Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FLICK: I AM HERR TO STAY
Under-fire boss insists he doesn’t fear boot despite Lahm blast as Germans face a humiliating group-stage exit
FROM SIMON MULLOCK in Doha
GERMANY’S beleaguered coach Hansi Flick insists he does not fear the sack ahead of the make-or-break clash with Costa Rica.
The four-time world champions are on the brink of being eliminated at the group stages for the second successive tournament after a 2-1 defeat by Japan and a 1-1 draw with Spain.
And after former skipper Philipp Lahm cranked up the pressure by questioning Flick’s use of substitutes in the opening game, calls for a change of coach are sure to intensify if Germany go out.
Flick, who was Joachim Low’s assistant for Germany’s World Cup triumph in Brazil eight years ago, said: “I can only confirm the future from my side, that I have a contract until 2024 and that I am looking forward to the European Championships.
“I don’t feel any pressure and I didn’t feel any pressure after the defeat to Japan.
“We didn’t have much time before the tournament and the longer we’re together the more we improve. The problem is that it is not in our hands. We must try to exert our own pressure from the start. We know it will be difficult.”
Lahm (right), who now works for the German FA, felt that bringing off Thomas Muller and Ilkay Gundogan (below) against the Japanese stripped the team of much-needed experience.
“Flick should rely on players with a lot of international experience,” said Lahm, who was a key player in the team that lifted the World Cup in 2018.
“He didn’t do it during the
Japan game and the team broke.”
Germany could keep qualification in their own hands by winning 8-0 against a Costa Rican side that bounced back from a 7-0 defeat to Spain by beating Japan.
Flick, who has been in the job for 18 months, said: “It would be disrespectful to Costa Rica if we said we want to score eight goals.
“We will be happy just to win the game.
“For Costa Rica to concede seven goals in their first game and then beat Japan is no mean feat.
“Costa Rica also have an opportunity to go to the last 16.”
France’s Stephanie Frappart will become the first woman to referee at the men’s World Cup.
Frappart will lead an allfemale on-field team after FIFA selected Neuza Back of Brazil and Mexico’s Karen Diaz Medina as her assistants.