Speaking to Ran, Hamann claimed that the 6-0 win over Slovakia was “a conciliatory end to a very average World Cup qualifying campaign.” Furthermore, he spoke about the criticism Nagelsmann has been subjected to in recent months.

“Criticism is always levelled at a national coach when things aren’t going well,” he claimed. “And if you look at the performances in the first five qualifying matches, there wasn’t a single good one. At most, maybe a good half hour. Therefore, this convincing victory certainly gives Julian Nagelsmann a boost. And it brings some calm, which is also important, of course.”

However, the former Liverpool, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Bayern Munich defensive midfielder firmly believes that Germany are not at the same level as some of their European counterparts.

“The important thing now was to come out of the group stage as winners and thus qualify directly. You could see that it’s getting increasingly difficult against the supposedly weaker teams,” he added. 

“Nevertheless, they managed it, albeit with some trepidation. But you could see that there are two or three teams in Europe that are better than us. For example, the English, the French, or the Spanish. So we will be in the wider circle at the World Cup, but as things stand today, certainly not among the top favourites. And I don’t think that will change much by next summer. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything for the tournament. We showed that at the 2002 World Cup when we reached the final.”

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