Hansi Flick, Germany’s manager, is under intense pressure following a heavy defeat in a friendly match against Japan.
Ayase Ueda tucked in from close range to restore Japan’s lead midway through the first half at Germany’s backyard.
Hansi Flick and his men further fell as Takuma Asano and Ao Tanaka scored to put the game to rest in the closing minutes.
The loss to Japan was Germany’s fourth defeat in their last five games and also their heaviest since a 6-0 loss in the Nations League against Spain in 2020.
Germany under Hansi Flick also lost 2-1 against Japan at the 2022 World Cup as they failed to make it out of the group stage.
The former World Cup champions have just won three of their last 12 matches – beating Oman, Costa Rica, and Peru.
Flick’s men who have automatically qualified for next summer’s Euro as tournament hosts have also lost to Belgium, Poland, and Colombia since their World Cup group-stage exit in December.
German football journalist Raphael Honigstein, who spoke earlier this week on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro League podcast, claims the manager could be fired.
Honigstein said: “It sounds ridiculous being two friendly matches but Flick is under huge pressure not to mess this up. The last games [defeats by Poland and Colombia] were so bad this has become an unofficial final for his era.”
“Two bad performances and two bad results and the Germany FA will be forced to get rid because the public pressure would be intolerable.”
Flick received criticism for his substitutions, particularly against Japan, and early elimination from the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Hansi Flick and his men will take on 2022 World Cup finalists France in a friendly at Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday.
Hansi Flick
Hans-Dieter “Hansi” Flick is a German football manager and former player who was born on February 24th, 1965, and is the current head coach of the German national team.
Flick was the assistant coach of Germany under manager Joachim Löw from August 2006 to July 2014.
He won the UEFA Champions League as the manager of Bayern Munich, completing the club’s second continental treble in August 2020.
Hansi Flick also led the German giants to a FIFA Club World Cup and another Bundesliga title the following year.
The manager, alongside City’s Pep Guardiola, are the only two managers to have won a sextuple with their respective team.
As stated earlier, in the summer of 2021, he took over as Germany manager, replacing Joachim Löw – whom he worked under as an assistant.
