Lothar Matthäus seems completely satisfied. He's won every title there is in his playing career and after a wild life on the front page of the tabloids, things have gone quiet around the former world champion. Last but not least, it is thanks to his commitment as a TV expert at Sky that the Franconian has shed the image of the bon vivant. A few days before his 60th birthday on Sunday, things could hardly be better for Matthäus. If it weren't for the national coach job.
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Viewed from the outside, one could ask the question: What else does Matthew actually want? Nothing like he says himself. There are only a few titles in football that the record national player has not won. He completed a number of games for his former heart club Borussia Mönchengladbach, for the big FC Bayern Munich or the then somewhat larger Inter Milan. In Italy, the caretaker's son from Herzogenaurach in Franconia crowned his extraordinary career with the 1990 World Cup title. That's another reason why Matthew no longer has to.
But Joachim Löw's approaching withdrawal suddenly brought him back into the game. Since it became clear that Löw would stop as national coach after the European Championships in the summer, Matthäus has repeatedly indicated that he is willing to talk. Although he doesn't really want anything more - he would of course support German football at any time. "I'm someone who likes to help. If I had the feeling that those responsible were behind it, I would worry," he said recently on Sky. It remains to be seen whether that will happen. In any case, Bayern coach Hansi Flick is the favorite for Matthäus to succeed Löw.
It's been almost ten years since Matthäus last worked as a coach. Compared to his playing career, his coaching positions read like a sporting relegation: Partizan Belgrade, Athletico Paranaense, Maccabi Netanya or the national team of Bulgaria are there. As a player, Matthäus was a world footballer, as a coach he won the Serbian championship. It is also these differences that distorted the public image of the former exceptional talent, at least in Germany. While people in Italy still revere him as "Grande Lothar", in Germany the trained interior decorator is often called "Loddar".
An eternal life in the limelight
People still smile about Matthäus in this country, about his Franconian accent, for example, which makes Pep Guardiola's tiki-taka playing style sound like "Diggi-Dagga" or an English club like Tottenham Hotspur sounds like "Doddenhäm". Some people also remember his clumsy English or unintentionally flippant sayings. When Christoph Daum, who was almost national coach, stumbled over the cocaine affair many years ago, Matthäus said afterwards: "It is important that he now brings a clear line into his life". He said that shortly after his playing career, and the image of ex-soccer player Matthäus took on unwanted contours.
He knows about all these things and how they deal with them in Germany. "Boris Becker, Franz Beckenbauer. We all make mistakes, but we Germans are happy when a celebrity is caught. I don't like this envious society," he said in the "Kicker" interview. Some smile again about the rumors about Matthäus as national coach, when he hasn't even coached a national league team. In the past few days he has only answered questions that he has been asked again and again. "Why not Lothar?" Franz Beckenbauer now said in the "Bild". Matthew probably won't mind too much.
Matthew: "I chose right ways"
He is at peace with himself and his life. "You can never achieve everything. So should I say that I would rather have won the world championship twice? No, I'm healthy, that's the most important thing," he says. "I chose the right path." He himself does not know where these paths will lead him. He doesn't even want to because he's satisfied. The fact that he is now heading towards 60 he is "relaxed with a smile". "It's nothing special for me." Actually, he would have been in Dubai on Sunday, but that didn't work because of the corona pandemic.
Perhaps he will then spend his 61st birthday as national coach. "He's got something big on him," Hertha coach Pal Dardai recently assured. The 44-year-old ex-professional should know because he experienced Matthäus as Hungary's national coach for almost two years. "He has the potential to be a winner."
