Former Bayern Munich manager and current German national team boss Julian Nagelsmann has to start narrowing down his squad for the World Cup and per Bild (via @iMiaSanMia), there are three distinct categories that players fall into:
Group 1- Guaranteed starters
Group 2- Backups
Group 3- Players still uncertain of making the World Cup squad
Per the report, this is where things stand for the players:
1- Nagelsmann so far decided on 9 guaranteed starters: Oliver Baumann in goal, Joshua Kimmich, Jonathan
Tah, Nico Schlotterbeck and David Raum in defense, Aleksandar Pavlović in midfield, Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala (if fully fit) and Kai Havertz in attack. Serge Gnabry was initially planned as a Musiala backup, but with Leroy Sané and Jamie Leweling failing to clinch the last spot in attack, Gnabry is a candidate to be a starter at the tournament. The second midfield spot alongside Pavlović is between Goretzka and Felix Nmecha (if he recovers in time for the tournament).
2- The second category consists of players who are almost certainly guaranteed to be at the World Cup but are planned as backups: Alexander Nübel, Jonas Urbig, Antonio Rüdiger, Waldemar Anton, Nathaniel Brown, Pascal Groß, Nick Woltemade, Lennart Karl, Deniz Undav, Kevin Schade, Malik Thiaw, Niclas Füllkrug (Nagelsmann wants a target man in the squad).
3- Players who are uncertain to make the squad: Finn Dahmen, Anton Stach, Josha Vagnoman, Angelo Stiller, Chris Führich, Assan Ouédraogo, Maximilian Mittelstädt, among other names
Nagelsmann adopted this concept of ‘roles’ from Gordon Herbert, who led Germany’s basketball team to their first World Cup title in 2023. He already used it at EURO 2024. The goal is that everyone knows their role and gets familiar with it before the tournament starts
Nagelsmann: “We had a role discussion with every player. Every player knows exactly where they stand.”
This concept came under fire this week because Nagelsmann was over-the-top with his criticism of Undav after the latter scored the game winner in a 2-1 victory over Ghana. In addition, Undav spoke about his hopes that he could work his way up Nagelsmann’s pecking order, which seemed to set the coach off even more.
If true, how is Nagelsmann’s squad lining up in your eyes? Tell us in the comments.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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