Germany still confident about World Cup hopes despite lean run of form

A proud footballing nation on a lean run of just one win in six games. A humiliating defeat at home against Hungary. And above all a sense of stasis and frustration, a lack of creativity, the suspicion that for all the talent and trophies in this team, it remains considerably less than the sum of its parts.

Germany and England may share a common predicament, but as they prepare to meet on Monday night only one of these nations is currently wracked by existential crisis. And curiously, it’s not the one that has bombed out of its last two international tournaments.

As Germany slipped to defeat in Leipzig on Friday night, the mood was defined more by indifference than insurrection. The few pockets of boos were drowned out by the sizeable Hungarian contingent, celebrating their first competitive win over Germany since 1985. Nobody was calling for Hansi Flick’s head on a platter. Nobody was writing off the World Cup. Instead, an implacable calm reigned, a sense that whatever their travails, this team will inevitably come good when it matters. “The coach has it under control,” Joshua Kimmich insisted.

Not that there wasn’t a certain disgruntlement at the defeat, Germany’s first under Flick. It took 37 minutes to register a shot on target, and even if they improved later on, chances remained cherishably rare. “The first half was just shit,” admitted Jonas Hofmann with impressive bluntness. Flick, for his part, was prepared to take his share of the blame for a bold tactical experiment in which Hoffman – normally an attacking midfielder – played at right-back. “It didn’t work that well,” Flick conceded.

But the most telling comment of all came from the stand-in captain Thomas Müller. “You notice that many of us are not going