‘Radio’ Mueller, Hummels turn up volume
After a two-year exile from international football, 2014 World Cup winners Thomas Mueller and Mats Hummels are set to crank up the volume on the pitch for Germany's bid to win Euro 2020.
Germany head into the European Championship low on confidence after a shock home defeat to North Macedonia in March in the wake of an historic 6-0 thrashing by Spain last November, the Germans heaviest defeat in more than 80 years.
On both occasions, shell-shocked faces in the stunned German ranks exposed a lack of leadership with captain Manuel Neuer helplessly watching the crisis unfold from his goal.
Germany's under-fire head coach Joachim Loew, who will step down later this summer, has reacted by reversing his 2019 decision to axe Hummels and Mueller, recalling the experienced pair to help lead on the pitch at the Euro.
"It's certainly true that Mats Hummels or myself are players who dare to speak up," said Mueller, who made his 101st international appearance on Wednesday after a two-year hiatus.
Loew is desperate to sign off after 15 years in charge by winning the Euro to mend his reputation, tarnished by the Germans' 2018 World Cup debacle, and needs Mueller, 31, and Hummels, 32, to give his squad a boost. As Germany left-back Robin Gosens admits "both have a special aura. You notice immediately that you can rely on these guys. And that feeling is enormously important for a football team."
'Radio Mueller', as he is nicknamed, was the loudest German voice on the pitch in Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Denmark while Hummels marshalled the German defence, but his last-gasp tackle could not stop Yussuf Poulsen's equaliser.
"It's not about roaring or volume per se," explained Mueller. "The point is to distribute information so that every player can react as quickly as possible to game situations. I am what I am." "When I see the quality that is in the team, I want to wake up German football," he added.
There is no way of hitting the snooze button on Mueller, who wants to fire up Germany's bid to be crowned European champions for the fourth time.