Jürgen Klopp got off to a rocky start as Germany's coach, as—following a draw with the Netherlands and a loss to Greece— his team defeated Serbia 2-0 yesterday in the Nations League. The team’s next match is against Greece on Sunday at Toumba Stadium, and the German coach is well aware of the challenges ahead.
“The Greeks have an excellent team. Their attacking players alone can play anywhere, as they indeed do. They possessed that quality, and against us they defended very deep. We weren’t able to rise to that challenge. Now they’ll most likely be playing in front of a packed stadium. The atmosphere will be electric. That’s the next challenge. The match will be very intense,” he said.
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As for his team’s performance yesterday, he said: “I’m satisfied with everything: the start, the middle, and the end. We had a very strong start, and we could have scored more goals from the balls we recovered. The key is to have the courage—as we did on the play leading to the first goal—to send players into the box. We can take risks and play freely when we win the ball back as a team. Everyone was completely focused during our pressing phases. The defensive line played aggressively, pressing high up the field. Our play without the ball was excellent, and we played wonderful soccer when we had possession. Before the game, I said we’d need mental toughness to handle the frustration if a pass didn’t go the way we wanted, but when you have that mindset and enjoy the process, the result can be what we saw.”
*photo source: AP
