Borussia Dortmund legend and world champion goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller has backed Bayern Munich’s Jonas Urbig to be included in Germany’s squad for the upcoming World Cup.
Weidenfeller spoke on SPORT1 Doppelpass (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) that he “would take Jonas Urbig to the World Cup because he has the age and the talent to become Germany’s goalkeeper in the near future.” However, he made it clear that he would not start him as the No. 1 goalkeeper, with that spot going to TSG Hoffenheim’s
Oliver Baumann. “Number one is Baumann, clearly,” he said. “Then (Alexander) Nübel and Urbig. You can argue about whether you put Urbig as the number two and Nübel behind him.” He also added that Marc-André ter Stegen “has no chance.” Ter Stegen is currently injured and has seemingly little hope of making it to the World Cup.
Indeed, Urbig has proven to be more than an adequate understudy for current Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, and is set to replace him as Bayern’s No. 1 once Neuer hangs his gloves up. That said, Weidenfeller is right in saying that Urbig should not be thrust into goal at the World Cup, especially when he has yet to be called up to the senior national team so far.
With Baumann and Nübel the mainstays in Julian Nagelsmann’s goalkeeper lineup, it remains to be seen who will fill the third spot. Nagelsmann had opted for FC Augsburg’s Finn Dahmen and SC Freiburg’s Noah Atubolu in his most recent squad. Should he do the same for the World Cup squad, it would be the first time that Germany has no outright Bayern goalkeeper at the World Cup since 1994, although technically speaking, Nübel is still a Bayern player on loan to VfB Stuttgart.
