Weekend Warm-up: Hansi Flick’s loyalty to Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller and Manchester City’s İlkay Gündoğan hurt Germany; Should I still root for the USMNT?; Throwing it back to Johnny Cash; and MORE!

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Müller and Manchester City’s İlkay Gündoğan have each had a fantastic career.

In fact, some would say that they are two of the best players — at their respective positions — that Germany has ever produced.

Some...would say that.

Certainly, Müller is more legendary and has accomplished more, and even though both players have had great careers, their best days are behind them.

Despite that being painfully obvious to many, Hansi Flick went against the grain and made the two veterans among the squad’s focal points for the World Cup in Qatar.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Who should YOU root for?

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In retrospect — and in the private company of friends — even Flick might admit that was a mistake.

We are all nostalgic...and we are all fans to a point. However, the coach of a national team has to know when the well is tapped...whether that is permanently or just on a short-term basis.

Müller was coming off of an injury and never looked comfortable playing as a No. 9. This was as unimpactful of a stretch as we have seen from Müller since the days of Niko Kovac. In addition, by using İlkay Gündoğan, Flick nullified being able to take advantage of using Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka together — which should have been one of the strengths of the team.

For all intents and purposes, Müller was cooked for this tourney and Gündoğan played like he had no interest in keeping any type of defensive shape.

It was frustrating, disappointing, and maddening — all at the same time — to watch.

Like him or not, Niclas Füllkrug was the man for this moment. He might not have been the hero that Germany deserved, but he was the one that the squad needed.

And it was there...it was all right there.

Instead, Flick fell victim to some of the same issues that ultimately felled Joachim Löw. I didn’t see that coming. Maybe I should have, but either way, it’s over now and Germany’s fans deserved better.

Weekend Warm-up + Postgame show (Guest Host Schnitzel)

Germany is officially out! Now, who didn’t see that coming?

Japan deservedly qualify, while Spain has Germany to thank for their qualification to the knockouts. Germany however, needs a lot of thought and a lot of changes before the next major tournament rolls in. A team that is a knockout stage regular has now become a regular at being knocked out of groups. How the mighty have fallen.

So is it complacency? Is it abysmal coaching decisions? This podcast looks at a few possible reasons that may be significant to Germany’s derailment as of late. Here’s what we have in store in this special edition podcast:

• Germany’s shortcomings, and the disappointing exit
• Spain looking quite toothless for large stretches
• Hansi Flick’s baffling decisions and stubborn approach
• Complacency being a key issue of this German NT squad
• Why Japan is a great team to root for in this tournament
• Hustle as a Netflix movie recommendation
• Some classical music talk: Mozart, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, et al.

On the bright side...

Who’s ready to start talking Bayern Munich football once again?

Should I bag rooting for the United States?

I was rooting for Germany (they blew it).

The SBN quiz result told me I should root for Denmark (they under-performed).

My only team left is the USMNT....should I continue to support them or should I just paint myself orange in hopes of a reverse jinx?

Song of the Week:

I mean...this is one self explanatory, right?

Predictions

The next predictions will be posted in the Daily Schmankerl after the group stage ends. The final group stage predictions (as posted earlier this week) are as follows:

• South Korea 1-2 Portugal
• Ghana 1-2 Uruguay
• Serbia 1-2 Switzerland
• Cameroon 1-4 Brazil

Prediction Records

• Last World Cup match day record: 8-4* (still in progress)
• Last Bundesliga match day record: 4-5
• Overall Bundesliga record: 64-69
• DFL-Supercup record: 1-0
• DFB-Pokal record: 2-0
• Champions League record: 5-1
• World Cup overall record: 26-18
• WWU overall record: 98-90
• Guest predictions: 7-4

*Four more games to play.