Home Euros pressure not life or death Germany Nagelsmann

Germany are still far from tournament ready with less than three months until Euro 2024 begins at home, but coach Julian Nagelsmann said the team did not feel under pressure.

His team will face France in a friendly on Saturday before hosting the Netherlands three days later.

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Nagelsmann, who took over after Hansi Flick's dismissal in September, had a mixed start with a win and a draw in a trip to the United States in October followed by back-to-back defeats in Austria and at home to Germany. Turkey in November.

“In the last two games we had maybe too many offensive players on the field,” Nagelsmann said at a press conference on Friday. “This week we worked well in training and I am confident that we will put in a good performance tomorrow.”

“On the question of pressure, I must repeat that these are things brought from outside. This pseudo-pressure is not a matter of life and death.”

The four-time world champions have enjoyed little success at the international level since winning the 2014 World Cup and were eliminated early in their last three tournaments.

They fell in the first round at the last two World Cups and were eliminated in the round of 16 at the European Championship three years ago.

German fans, hungry for success, have become impatient ahead of the tournament which begins in Germany on June 14 and pits the hosts against Scotland.

“The pressure we have is to succeed, but everything else is just problems brought from outside. Success in sport is part of life, but I'm not going to go crazy for something that's fun since the age of three,” Nagelsmann said.

“We would do well to enjoy the match. We have two important matches, then a key phase of two months for the coaches and then it's off to the Euros.”

The Germans will also face Ukraine in Nuremberg on June 3 before facing Greece in Mönchengladbach four days later in their final friendly matches before the start of the Euro.

“I don't like the pressure and the 'what if we lose'. Life is good and football is part of it and is always fun. It's football, not politics, or a major decision affecting 30,000 workers,” Nagelsmann said.

“It's football and it must awaken emotions. We will try to win and if not we will try again on Tuesday.”