A World Cup without Germany used to be unthinkable. Now the four-time champion needs to turn things around to ensure a spot at next year's tournament.
A shock 2-0 loss to Slovakia in World Cup qualifying means Julian Nagelsmann's team may need a perfect record in the rest of its qualifiers, starting with wins over Luxembourg on Friday and Northern Ireland on Monday.
“Everyone expects of us that we'll beat every opponent 5-0, 6-0 but that's no longer
possible,” midfielder Nadiem Amiri said in comments reported by German agency dpa. “The times have simply changed. Everyone's good, everyone can hold their own. For us it's just important to win. We need win after win.”
The qualifying format — a four-team group where only the winner qualifies automatically — means Germany must win each of its remaining games unless Slovakia slips up, and get ahead of Slovakia on goal difference too. Second place would put Germany into a bracket of four teams competing for one spot early next year.
If Germany did fail to make it to the expanded, 48-team World Cup, it would be a historic shock.
Until its loss in Slovakia last month, Germany had never lost a World Cup qualifying game away from home. The only times it's missed the men's World Cup were the inaugural 13-team 1930 event, which it skipped along with most of Europe, and 1950, when it was excluded following World War II.
Of course, even when it has qualified, Germany hasn't always produced the goods.
Group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022 were huge disappointments for a team which had top-class individual players but didn't seem to gel as a team. A goose-themed motivational talk by then-coach Hansi Flick at the 2022 World Cup fell flat and seemed to typify the lack of enthusiasm.
That all means Germany hasn't played a World Cup knockout game since winning the 2014 final.
Germany's qualification fight has been made harder by injuries.
Barcelona's Marc-André ter Stegen would be first-choice goalkeeper if fit but hasn't played all year, while Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger is out with a muscle injury and Bayern Munich's attacking midfield star Jamal Musiala likely won't return until the new year.
Nagelsmann seems intent on forging a partnership between Florian Wirtz and Newcastle's Nick Woltemade, but Wirtz has yet to find his best form since his Liverpool move and Woltemade has had a flu-like illness this week. That meant the tall striker was training separately Wednesday.
There's extra attention on new player Nathaniel Brown, a left back from Eintracht Frankurt who would also be eligible for the United States. Brown faces the challenge of doing better than his Frankfurt teammate Nnamdi Collins, who was dropped after costly errors on debut in the Slovakia loss.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
