Antonio Di Salvo is set to make his debut as coach of Germany’s U-21s in his hometown of Paderborn. Ahead of his first appearance with the eleven, the former assistant now has to contend with the problems as head coach.
Where he was born and later socialised and trained as a footballer, Antonio Di Salvo will make his debut as the new head coach of the German U-21 national team this Thursday, in Paderborn. “This is a special moment for me,” the 42-year-old assured reporters on Wednesday at his first press conference in his new role ahead of the European Championship qualifier against Israel, “my parents are coming, my sister, my brother wanted to travel from Munich, my wife and kids unfortunately can’t make it because of school – and two or three other friends are also there. “
“We want to be brave, active and dominant. “
ANTONIO DI SALVO
Naturally, Di Salvo has also had exchanges with predecessor Stefan Kuntz, but now he is in charge of leading the defending champions to the 2023 European Championship finals and Romania and Georgia once again. After the opening victories in San Marino (6:0) and Latvia (3:1), the first home match is on the agenda. A top match right away, after Israel surprisingly celebrated two 2-1 away victories in Poland and Hungary.
Difficult tasks
“This opponent will have a different category,” suspects Di Salvo, who doesn’t want to change anything about the style of play: “We want to be brave, active and dominant, display a high level of intensity and always look for the solution going forward.” Basically, he defines himself as “someone who places a lot of value on a good atmosphere and creating a good bond with the players and communicating a lot, but also giving very open and honest criticism, that’s very important so that the players know where they stand and what they need to do better, it’s all about small details.”
Against Israel and next Tuesday in Hungary (5:30 p.m. in Szeged), the new U-21 crop must now prove their class. “Qualifying for the European Championship is always difficult, even last time after the two defeats to Belgium we weren’t sure we’d qualify,” Di Salvo recalls of the difficult phases on the way to the title, “it’s about growing as a team and getting better every time. “
Normal problems for Di Salvo
After the first few training sessions under his guidance, Di Salvo is already facing the usual problems and is spoilt for choice. “Everyone wants to be in the team, that doesn’t make it easy for me,” assures Di Salvo, “the sessions were extremely intense, everyone left their heart on the pitch. Now I have to make decisions, which gives me a bit of a headache.”
Dortmund’s young star Youssoufa Moukoko also worries him. “Unfortunately, he suffered a slight muscle injury on Tuesday, he’s in the MRI, we have to wait and see how serious it is,” Di Salvo had still had faint hopes of the talent playing. But those hopes have now vanished into thin air. According to the DFB, the 16-year-old is definitely out and returned to BVB on Wednesday evening.
This is the second time that Moukoko has been injured for the U21s. At the end of March, he suffered a ligament injury in his foot and was then out for weeks. It is not yet clear how long he will miss this time for the Dortmund team.
