While Undav felt the team lacked the necessary bite, Nagelsmann was quick to defend his players against suggestions they had eased off. During a post-match interview, the coach reacted sharply when asked by Magenta TV presenter Johannes Kerner if his side lacked engagement. “Please stop with that nonsense, honestly. Why wouldn’t the boys want to go full throttle?” he said. “No, they didn’t want it more. They simply took a bit more risk in many situations.”
The manager acknowledged that the group standings, where Germany had already secured progression, influenced his decision-making regarding substitutions but refused to blame a lack of effort. “Of course, we made different substitutions than we might have if we urgently needed a goal. But I can’t tell any player now that he didn’t give his all. That’s far too cliché for me,” he added.
