Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann announced Germany’s World Cup squad ahead of next month’s tournament in North America.
Besides a fourth goalkeeper, who will travel to North America with the team despite not being on the formal team list, Nagelsmann decided against adding players on a standby basis.
That means that only the following 26 players will actually go to the tournament, and here is Germany’s World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim), Alexander Nübel (VfB Stuttgart).
Defenders: Waldemar Anton (Borussia Dortmund), Nathaniel Brown (Eintracht Frankfurt), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayern Munich), Malick Thiaw (Newcastle United).
Midfield: Pascal Groß (Brighton & Hove Albion), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Pavlovic (Bayern Munich), Angelo Stiller (VfB Stuttgart), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Nadiem Amiri (Mainz 05).
Forwards: Maximilian Beier (Borussia Dortmund), Kai Havertz (Arsenal), Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich), Jamie Leweling (VfB Stuttgart), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sané (Galatasaray Istanbul), Deniz Undav (VfB Stuttgart), Florian Wirtz (Liverpool), Nick Woltemade (Newcastle United).
Germany’s World Cup Squad: Nostalgia Rather Than Future Focus In Goal
One of the things that stands out regarding Germany’s World Cup squad is the fact that, despite his formal international retirement after UEFA EURO 2024, Neuer returns to the national setup for this upcoming tournament.
The 40-year-old will be the team’s starting goalkeeper as well, as Nagelsmann told the media after the squad announcement.
On the one hand, it is of course true that Neuer was a pioneer of the sweeper-keeper role during the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, and he can still play breathtakingly well on his day, but he is also very much past his prime and very prone to injuries.
The fact that, despite his advanced age for a top-level athlete and despite the many injuries he suffered over the last few years alone, Neuer is still likely the best keeper Germany currently possesses says more about the sad state of affairs in German goalkeeping than it does about Neuer’s longevity.
Besides his proneness to injuries, more and more errors have crept into Neuer’s game as well. He can still have great matches at times, but inconsistency is a major issue.
Baumann and Nübel complete the trio of keepers in Germany’s World Cup squad formally, but as we alluded to at the start of this piece, there will be a fourth shot stopper travelling with the team, which will be Jonas Urbig, Neuer’s understudy at Bayern Munich.
If an injury were to prevent one of the three main keepers from playing, Nagelsmann could then officially list Urbig to replace them at any point of the tournament, a new rule that only exists for goalkeepers.
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Surprises In Germany’s World Cup Squad
We have talked about the situation in goal more than sufficiently, and now it is time to focus on the other positions and areas of the pitch.
Malick Thiaw’s inclusion is somewhat surprising, particularly at the expense of a far more experienced Matthias Ginter.
Beier, Leweling and the particularly polarising Leroy Sané were also surprise inclusions, but Germany has many options when it comes to wingers.
The Biggest Weaknesses in Germany’s World Cup Squad
There isn’t even one true number nine on this side, as neither Havertz, Undav, nor Woltemade fits that description.
This means that they will likely lack a real finisher, despite their many potential creators. Historically, Germany has always had the opposite problem.
They face Curaçao, the Ivory Coast and Ecuador in their group, but the real heavyweights could be Germany’s opponents early on in the knockout stages.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Kirchner-Media
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