After announcing his latest squad, German national team head coach Jürgen Klopp held a press conference. This article covers the first part of the press conference.

Welcome back, Jürgen Klopp. I believe you were officially announced as the new head coach of the national team about two months ago. Since then, time seems to have flown by, and now your first four international matches are about to begin. Are you very excited for tomorrow?

Very excited. To be honest, I really didn't expect two months to pass this quickly. Has it really been two months? Or one month? Was I appointed in July or August?

That was August, so it's actually been just over a month.

Your math is better than mine—my math has never been very good. These past weeks have felt like one month, but we've packed an incredible amount of work into them. The whole process has been very interesting, especially the squad selection process, which I have to say has been a lot of fun.

After everything that felt wrong before, we've adopted a completely new approach: we no longer focus on what's missing, but on what we have. We've discovered tremendous football talent and built the squad based on that. I'm very satisfied with this list.

Although most of you already know many of these players, you don't have all the details yet, do you? I really feel we still have some surprises for you, and it's genuinely exciting! Whoever can guess one of the two unannounced names gets this hat! The hat is in that box over there, please take it! Look, there are two names we haven't announced yet—guess one correctly and you get the hat!

Thank you very much for this beautiful hat, but for compliance reasons, we still need to confirm whether we can accept it—but thank you very much! The input of one of 83 million German citizens, that's a great idea!

I'm not thinking too much about compliance! So, let's see. My first national team match will be in Amsterdam, wearing new colors, and of course, with a new squad. There's been extensive media coverage, and at one point around 70 names were circulating.

Indeed, many names circulated in the media, though not quite that many in reality, but when we look at this squad list, there are 44 names clearly presented! Now we can show those names—it's truly remarkable! Jürgen, this is a very unusual picture because these names are divided into two squad lineups. You need to explain—what's your thinking behind doing this?

There are many considerations, but first and foremost, it's very rare for a national team to play four matches in two weeks. The next round of league matches across different countries will be held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which means some players will still be playing on Sunday and can only report to the national team on Monday.

The schedule is very congested. The first thing is recovery training. Tuesday is the same, and on Wednesday there's only a pre-match tactical session and targeted training, then they fly to Amsterdam for Thursday's match. If a player just played on Sunday, they face this dilemma. Similarly, after returning from Amsterdam, they have to rush to Augsburg for Saturday's match with almost no time for recovery and training.

This is the situation for the first week, so for the first week's squad, we largely drew from the World Cup squad, who know each other well and have good chemistry, and called up players we want to maintain. However, for example, the Bayern versus Brentford match is Friday evening, so this arrangement for the first week makes perfect sense.

Additionally, during this time, I want to get to know the players personally as much as possible. Over the last four weeks, I've traveled extensively, personally visiting and meeting many players—both on training grounds and in face-to-face conversations afterward, standing right in front of me—which makes a huge difference from my previous impressions. As I mentioned earlier, I've been away from the Bundesliga for 11 years. Watching a player live and developing football intuition for them—the difference is enormous, and I hope to watch many more matches in person.

I should clarify specifically that we haven't divided this into what's called "Team A" or "Team B"—that doesn't mean we think one team can only beat certain opponents. In football, of course, we aim to win all four matches. Although there's no guarantee results will go as we wish, both squad lists are constructed to ensure good balance—with the right mix in terms of tactical setup, player personalities, and the ratio of experienced players to younger ones. The goal is to gather as much practical experience as possible with different players.

As a national team coach, I'm new to this, and I'm very aware of it; but I've been a club coach for 25 years, and squad selection is not unfamiliar to me. Squad selection is always for the next match—to try to win the match in the coming weeks, but also to think about matches one or two years from now, bringing in young players who can become absolute pillars of the team in one or two years. I've always done this in the past, and I'm fully continuing this philosophy now.

Of course, I know everyone will ask various questions about specific players—that's perfectly fine. I think in life, some things are very important: one is that everyone wants to improve themselves; another is that most people sitting here today have had crucial opportunities in their lives, and with those opportunities, they can do what they love.

Of course, you not only have to get the opportunity, you also have to make the most of it yourself, and the football world is exactly the same. We've now called up some young players who might surprise everyone, which is completely understandable. But we see great potential in these young players, and we hope to be part of their development process, which is why we've introduced new faces.

After the World Cup, people might have felt that German football had completely collapsed, without talent, without good players; but after careful examination over the last four weeks, a wealth of football talent has emerged before us—so much that we can't even call everyone up in this special format. Tomorrow, the U21 national squad will be announced, and there are many excellent young players there as well. We're even looking at some young players currently in the U16 and U17 teams. So this isn't just about the current national team matches, but also about building the foundation for the national team in two or three years.

So far, I'm very, very satisfied with this squad selection. Communication with players, clubs, and coaches has gone very smoothly, and especially the communication with the players has been excellent. I've spoken with every called-up player, whether by phone, FaceTime, or in person, and they've shown exceptional character—it's been a pleasure to communicate with them.

I can tell you that representing the German national team means an unparalleled honor for each of them, and I think that's worth saying publicly. Four weeks ago, I was observing from the sidelines and wasn't always sure, but now I can confirm that it's very significant. Together, we've decided to reignite that spirit starting tomorrow. The first wave of players will gather tomorrow, and the official training camp with the first squad will begin on Monday.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

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