By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The remote location of Germany's 2022 FIFA World Cup headquarter in Qatar seems a perfect match to develop the team spirit Hansi Flick regards as vital.
Starting from the wellness resort located in Zulal, 100 kilometers north of the capital Doha, the German coach is facing the challenge to deliver a better performance compared to the disappointing 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2020 Euro supervised by his predecessor Joachim Loew.
To act as a team relying on a robust axis of experienced players is the key to success, the 57-year-old is convinced while having to trigger a generation change for the 2024 Euro hosted by Germany.
German officials such as managing director Oliver Bierhoff and Flick speak of the final as a satisfying goal. Achieving the struggling team's return to the world's top is mentioned as the main issue.
It's no surprise that the 2022 accommodation choice is reminding of the camp selected for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as it secures seclusion and quietness.
The Campo Bahia has become the synonym for ultimate success as Germany collected the trophy with Flick in charge as Loew's influential assistant coach.
The former Bayern coach has proved to be able to form champions as a head coach winning the treble with Bayern in 2020.
Like in Brazil, Germany's most pressing issue is to get their defense prepared to allow the front line a fair amount of creative freedom supported by a conducting midfield.
Keeper Manuel Neuer, Real Madrid defender Antonio Ruediger, midfielder Joshua Kimmich and Bayern icon Thomas Muller make the cornerstones of Flick's axis enriched by inspiring youngsters such as Jamal Musiala (19), Armel Bella-Kotchap (20), Karim Adeyemi (20) and Youssoufa Moukoko (17).
The well-balanced mixture of experienced forces and promising youngsters will have to find solutions against robustly defending teams aside from securing their back-line prone to fast counterattacks and intense pressing actions over the past months.
Flick's selected squad is not only designed to achieve success in Qatar but to trigger the team's future development.
The German coach is leaving out experienced players such as Marco Reus (Dortmund) and Robin Gosens (Inter) next to super-talent Florian Wirtz (Leverkusen) due to their not entirely obtained fitness.
Dortmund defender Mats Hummels misses the major to allow the progress of a new generation, while Niclas Fullkrug is filling the gap up front after Timo Werner's injury pull-out.
The return of 2014 World Cup hero Mario Goetze (Frankfurt) and Dortmund midfielder Julian Brandt might be additional surprises next to Moukoko and Kotchap.
"Mario Goetze comes along with inspiring actions and can give us a lot of inspiration," Flick said while praising the qualities of Fullkrug for deciding games in the dying minutes.
The German coach emphasized the squad is assembled to head for the biggest possible success in Qatar.
The great number of midfielders or front-line attackers such as Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry indicates the four-time world champion is preparing for more to come.
Germany is facing Japan, Spain, and Costa Rica in their group with the curtain raiser against Japan on November 23 following a friendly against Oman. ■
