Joshua Kimmich recently earned his 100th cap for Die Mannschaft. Since joining the German national team in 2016, Kimmich quickly emerged as one of the best players and strongest leaders for his country. However, his time with the national team is synonymous with Germany’s fall from grace as the world’s greatest football nation. Since 2016, Germany have never made it out of the World Cup Group Stage, and never reached the final of any tournament. Not is all to blame on Kimmich though.
In 2022 though,
Kimmich was having a hard time with the lack of success with the national team and said after the defeat that he was ‘afraid of falling into a hole.’ It is clear that this has not happened though, and he recently reflected on this past statement.
“For me, playing for Germany is the greatest joy. But when you get eliminated in a tournament, it’s a bitter experience; especially because that was the second time in a row that we were eliminated in the group stage of a World Cup. Over the years, I’ve learned to assess things better and deal with success and failure better. As a person, I don’t make my well-being so dependent on that anymore. Nevertheless, the inner drive to be successful is present everyday: in training, in matches, at a tournament. But again, first we have to qualify for the World Cup,” Kimmich told Welt am Sonntag as captured by @iMiaSanMia.
If anyone has the drive and talent to bring Germany back to the top in world football, it is Joshua Kimmich. With young talent like Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala, and Aleksander Pavlović blooming into top players, Germany has a serious chance at taking home a fifth World Cup trophy in 2026, but Germany still has a long way to go, including two crucial qualifier matches remaining in November.
The German national team knew it would need to step up its efforts against Northern Ireland.
While not a powerhouse, the Northern Ireland squad was game and made life very tough during Germany’s 1-0 victory. It was not pretty and it was not likely the kind of dominant result that fans wanted to see, but it was a stiff test and one where the Germans could not afford to come out flat.
Intensity and focus were there, but execution was not. Regardless, it was a win for Germany. Let’s dive into the details. This is what we have on tap for this edition of the Bavarian Podcast Works — Postgame Show:
- A look at Bayern Munich’s starting XI — what worked, what didn’t, and where things might be headed.
- A rundown of the scoring and substitutions.
- Some takeaways on the match and where this leaves Germany heading into the final international break of 2025 during November.
