At the preparatory games in Belarus, the national players “round up”.
Marcel Goc was rather uncomfortable when he was asked about his birthday, but it was difficult for him to get out of it. After all, Goc is in Mannheim these days surrounded by his teammates from the national team. Of course, the captain of the German selection had to shake a lot of hands. Of course there was a big cake for the now 33-year-old center. As it should be.
But the congratulations are unlikely to end in the coming days. Goc will play his 100th international match next Sunday in the preparatory game against Belarus in Minsk. The center forward Adler Mannheim It should only be right that he is not the only focus this time, because it is BerlinHis teammate Frank Hördler then joins the “100 Club”. “You can see how old we are,” Hördler and Goc, who are two years younger, joked together.
The third member of the group to complete the 100 is Moritz Müller. The captain of the Kölner Haie However, it is already “on” the day before. The defender also rounded in the game against France. “Very nice, then I’m one game ahead of the other two,” said Müller with a wink, before adding with the necessary seriousness: “That’s a number that makes me proud.”
Müller as well as Hördler and Goc can indeed be proud of this number of international matches, after all it is proof of continuity and loyalty in the national team. The trio emphasizes that it is an honor to be able to represent the German colors. Of the current squad, only Yannic Seidenberg (129), Felix Schütz (111), Marcus Kink (107) and Patrick Hager (103) have more games under their belt for their country. Curious: Stanley Cup winner Tom Kühnhackl will only make his international debut against France on Saturday.
The number of international matches will fade into the background in the coming days anyway. The focus is clearly on qualifying for the 2018 Olympic Games. The national team must win the tournament in Riga from September 1st to 4th if they want to take part in the Olympics in South Korea. “We are working towards this goal together. Every game is very important,” says Goc, looking ahead to the games against Japan, Austria and Latvia.
One thing is clear: only if qualification is guaranteed would the number of international matches really be of great importance for the national players.