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[16-06-2021 | ZDF Sportstudio, Mainz | 12:30 CET]

"With pleasure." Wagner leaned forward, jabbing a finger at the screen. "Florian Wirtz. Seventeen years old, I know he is just back from injury and all the concerns about whether he is ready."

"Those are valid points," Breyer tried to interject, but clearly wanted to see where this was going.

"Shut up, please. Respectfully, he just won the Champions League two weeks ago, the Bundesliga, and the cup." He stated with exasperation. "He’s been the most creative midfielder in the Bundesliga since November, but he gets zero minutes. Doesn’t make the eighteen, fine, but he doesn’t even get on the bench for the warmup?"

"Jamal Musiala, the kid who Pep Guardiola, you know that Pep Guardiola, has been talking about as a once-in-a-generation talent, the boy who has been compared to Messi at every level he has played. In the squad but zero minutes." He reiterated, shrugging his shoulders in confusion. "Rakim Rex, the hottest prospect in recent memories, with a record of sixty-seven goals this season for the treble winners. Ten minutes. Ten."

"And in those ten minutes," Schweinsteiger added, "he had two of the three best German chances of the match. The sombrero on Hernández, the curling shot Lloris had to claw out. In ten minutes."

"In ten minutes!" Wagner repeated, almost laughing in disbelief. "And we’re meant to believe the plan was correct? We are meant to believe Jogi looked at his options at half-time, down a goal at home, against France, and said, no, I will trust the same system that has not worked for two and a half years?"

"It is a difficult thing," Del Piero offered carefully from the Roman feed, his English measured and warm. "I do not want to speak too much about another country’s coach. But I will say this, in Italy, when we were struggling before this tournament, Mancini did the brave thing. He brought in Locatelli, Spinazzola, Berardi, and Barella, Young, hungry players."

"Alessandro, that’s interesting because part of the criticism here is that we are watching Toni Kroos and Mats Hummels and Thomas Müller and Ilkay Gündoğan as if it is twenty-fourteen all over again," Breyer nodded slowly, processing. "While a generation of attackers we have never had in this country before sits and watches."

"Sì, exactly," Del Piero said, gesturing with one hand. I love Andrea Pirlo, but if Mancini had built this Italy team around what Andrea was at thirty-six, we would not be unbeaten in twenty-eight matches. You build for what is in front of you, not what made you happy ten years ago."

"And here is where I will be a little careful," Schweinsteiger said, holding up a hand. "Because I have been in that dressing room. I know what it is to be a young player thrown in too quickly, and I know what it is to be an older player phased out too quickly. You have to find the balance. Last night, I think Jogi got the balance wrong; I will say that openly. But I do not think the answer is to bench Kroos and Hummels and start three teenagers against Portugal."

"Nobody is saying that, Basti. I am saying use the players you brought. If you call up Wirtz, you give him minutes. If you call up Rex, you can build a plan that lets him do what he does." Wagner replied, exasperated but not unkind. "He is not a winger who tracks back forty yards; that is not what he is. He is a player who hurts people in the final third. So you put him in a position to do that, not on the bench, and bring him on for ten minutes when you are already two goals down and ask him to save the match."

"This is the part that bothers me the most," Del Piero added, his tone sharpening for the first time. "Forgive me, but I have watched Rex play many times for Leverkusen this season. The kid is special, truly special, and when you have a player like this, you find ways to use him. If I were Rex right about now, I would be questioning my decision to choose Germany over all the options he had."

A heavy silence settled around the desk. Breyer let it breathe for a moment before turning the camera into his lens. "Bastian, devil’s advocate. Is there a case for caution? Is there a version of this where Jogi is correct to ease them in?"

"There is a version of it, yes." Schweinsteiger leaned back in his chair to consider it. "If you’re Jogi, and the pressure you’re facing, you look at the squad you have, and you think, my proven players are the ones who will get you results. Müller has played in two World Cup finals, Kroos has won three Champions Leagues, and Hummels has lifted the World Cup."

"But that logic only works if what you trust is still working." Wagner countered, but without the earlier edge. "And we have seen for two qualifying campaigns now that it isn’t. The Nations League relegation, the Spain six-nil, and the Macedonia loss in March. The proven players are not delivering the proven results anymore."

"That’s a fair point." Schweinsteiger conceded with a nod. "But I would push back on one thing. Müller did score last night. Kroos created the chance that Hummels saved with that block. The old guard didn’t disappear; they delivered moments. The problem was not what they did, but what we asked the rest of the side to do around them."

"Now that I can agree with," Wagner said, raising a finger. "Ask Müller to be Müller. Don’t ask Havertz to also be Müller next to him. Pick a profile and surround it with complementary players, not duplicate ones."

"May I add something?" Del Piero raised his hand slightly on the secondary feed, drawing Breyer’s eye. "Jogi has a hard job in front of him. This German side is perhaps the most talented in recent memory, with players dominant across the four major leagues as they fight for trophies. Finding the balance between getting the three young ones who are more than ready and the experienced ones will decide how far they will go in this tournament."

Breyer nodded slowly, the kind of small nod that signalled he was about to pivot. "Alessandro raises the point I want to end on. Sandro, Basti, do you actually think Jogi has it in him to change against Portugal? Or are we going to sit here in five days having the same conversation?"

"I want to believe he will, but Jogi is a man of conviction, and conviction is what got him a star on the shirt." Wagner exhaled through his nose, his earlier fire dimmed into something more honest. "It is also what is hurting him now, maybe one small change, a wing-back, a tweak in shape. A full reshuffle? I don’t see it."

"That’s why this debate matters less than people think," Schweinsteiger said with a half-smile. "The lineup against Portugal will tell us more in five minutes than we will in five hours."

"A polite way of saying you agree with me," Wagner shot back, and the studio chuckled.

"A polite way of saying we will know soon enough," Schweinsteiger corrected, grinning.

Del Piero raised his espresso cup on the secondary feed. "Football has a way of answering its own questions, gentlemen."

"Beautifully put, Alessandro." Breyer angled toward the centre camera as the floor manager gave him the signal. "We will leave it there for now, but plenty more to come after the break. We will turn to Group F’s other story, Portugal three, Hungary nil in Budapest, and a Cristiano Ronaldo masterclass that has rewritten more record books in ninety minutes than most players manage in a decade. And of course, Alessandro will walk us through what to expect from his Azzurri tonight in Rome against Switzerland. Stay with us."

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TO BE CONTINUED...