Julian Nagelsmann is about to join a select band of Bundestrainers: those who have taken charge of the Germany national team in a major finals on home soil. To date, only three other managers – Helmut Schon, Franz Beckenbauer and Jurgen Klinsmann – have had that honour and all either grasped glory or came very close to it, with Schon’s West Germany winning the1974 World Cup, Beckenbauer’s side falling at the semi-final hurdle of Euro1988 and Klinsmann masterminding a bronze medal at the 2006 World Cup.
It is an exceedingly high bar for Nagelsmann and company to aim for and the fans are wary of overdosing on optimism, their hopes ground down by the team’s poor performances in each of the last three major international tournaments. For a football nation of Germany’s stature, the spiral of underachievement has gone on
