The busy schedule continues. Just a short while ago, Joshua Kimmich and numerous other Bayern players were playing for their countries, now they are traveling to the Club World Cup to earn a lot of money for their club—and, if possible, win the title.
Joshua Kimmich had just finished answering the last question about the German national team’s 0-2 defeat to France and their resulting fourth and final place in the Nations League finals. The captain of the DFB team wanted to turn around and leave after his 101st international match, but a reporter wanted to know his opinion on the upcoming Club World Cup.
“In the ten days off before the Nations League, I was able to wind down mentally, but not so much physically, because you still keep doing something,” the 30-year-old began by way of explanation, continuing: “Then we went from zero to a hundred in these two games, have two or three days off again, before it’s back to zero to a hundred.”
It’s crazy because tomorrow, Tuesday, most of the Bayern squad will be heading to Orlando, Florida, where the record champions will be based during the Club World Cup and from where they will travel to the individual games. Bayern’s first game is on Sunday against Auckland City in Cincinnati, Ohio. Kick-off is at 6 p.m. German time, 12 noon there.
Laimer still in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday
Kimmich is not accepting any excuses: “You have to trick your body a little bit, then it’ll be fine,” he said with a wink before finally saying goodbye to Stuttgart and the DFB team late on Sunday afternoon.
It remains to be seen how Bayern coach Vincent Kompany plans to use him and the other international players, and how many of them will be on the pitch for the opening game against Auckland. It would come as no surprise if Kimmich, who has played a lot, were to feature. Others have had even shorter breaks. Konrad Laimer, for example, is still playing for Austria in the World Cup qualifier in San Marino on Tuesday and is expected to travel on.
At least France coach Didier Deschamps only brought Michael Olise on as a substitute against Germany in the Nations League, and he promptly scored. Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leroy Sané were also rested, sitting on the bench for the entire 90 minutes, while Serge Gnabry only played a few minutes. Apart from Kimmich, the only Bayern player to go the full 90 minutes was new signing Jonathan Tah. The other newcomer, Tom Bischof, is likely to be sitting on the plane to the US in a euphoric mood after making his international debut.
