News (engl.)

After beginning training in Herzogenaurach, Germany are moving to Frankfurt today to continue their preparations for the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann’s side will play their first World Cup warm-up match tomorrow against Finland in Mainz (20:45 CEST). In the final press conference before the game, Nagelsmann and Jamal Musiala discussed the first few training sessions, the mood in the squad and preparations for the tournament.

Julian Nagelsmann on...

...the warm-up friendlies: Friendlies are always about finding your own rhythm, but this close to a tournament you also want to take positives from them. That said, you can still take good things from a game that doesn’t go positively. More than anything, we want to see the things we’ve worked on and repeated in training, and the things we’ve been doing for a long time. For a few of the players who haven’t been with us for a while, it’s also about finding their rhythm. Winning isn’t everything right now, but of course we still want to win.

...the starting XI against Finland: We don’t have an awful lot of training time, and then the friendly against the USA is coming up soon as well. That’s why we have to make sure we find our rhythm quickly. You will see a lot of the players who, if everything goes to plan, could also start the first game. But there will certainly also be players involved who could still force their way in. There is definitely still competition for places. Alex Pavlovic will play alongside Felix Nmecha in midfield. As things stand, Deniz Undav will start up front.

...the right wing and Serge Gnabry: It’s true that the position is still a little open, and Lennart Karl will play there tomorrow. We have different options and different player profiles, depending on what we need and what the game demands. Tomorrow is a chance for Lennart to show what he can do. Serge’s absence hurts us. He visited us this week, and he will probably come to see us in the USA too. I always think that’s a very good sign. It’s really tough that he is missing a second major tournament through injury.

...Kai Havertz: We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for Kai tonight. We took a team photo together, which has hopefully reached him by now. This is the chance for them to add the cherry on top of their impressive season, after having fallen just short so often in recent years. We’re of course hoping that he comes back fit too. He is an extremely important player, one we absolutely need and one we have already missed when he hasn’t been there. Ideally, we’ll be delighted if he joins up with us with a Champions League trophy in the bag.

...the school-trip atmosphere: Fun and enjoyment in what you’re doing is the foundation for something to work. When I was at school, everyone always looked forward to those trips. Of course, there were one or two who got homesick back then as well. But when everyone is excited, something really positive can come out of it. In the end, we want to create a similar, if not even stronger, sense of togetherness to a really good school trip.

...the work in training: Since becoming Germany coach, I’ve only experienced one poor training session. Since then, there hasn’t been another bad one. The lads are all going full throttle already. I don’t see a single player who isn’t giving everything. The team are training with real enjoyment, and we’ve sharpened up our patterns a bit more – both in attack and defence. But you can’t overdo it in such a short space of time either. The key thing is that we find a flow. We’re not going to reinvent the wheel tactically – we don’t have the time for that.

...the comparison with the EURO preparations: Nothing was bad before the EUROs, but the team have definitely come together a little better now. The processes are very similar to before the EUROs. Now, when we repeat things, you can tell it doesn’t take as long for them to work well. Right at the start of our USA trip back then, there were more little groups and it wasn’t as harmonious. But we found good ways to deal with that, and now it is very harmonious. The lads sit together for a long time at dinner and there is a good togetherness. Yesterday there was a dramatic game of Uno. Everything seems to be going well, but the real proof comes on the pitch.

...Manuel Neuer: We’ll make a decision next week in the USA. He was moving more quickly again today. It looks good. He has no problems. Everything is going to plan, but we’ll make the call next week.

...the attack: Leon Goretzka has shown in recent games that he can play in the central attacking-midfield role – that is definitely an option, and he is making a good impression. In the end, it always comes down to this question: do we have that classic out-and-out finisher who scores seven, eight or nine goals, or do we spread them around? We are a team with 10 players in the squad who are capable of scoring three or four goals at the tournament and setting up goals as well. Of course, every player is also welcome to score seven or eight if they can. (laughs)

Jamal Musiala on...

...his return: I’m really happy. It feels like I’ve been away for a long time. But the first few days, the mood in the whole team – I’m really enjoying it. The first few days have been great. The mentality has been excellent, and I’m looking forward to being back out on the pitch tomorrow.

...his partnership with Florian Wirtz: I had definitely missed playing with him. It’s a lot of fun being on the pitch with him. I’m looking forward to the coming weeks.

...the comparison with the EURO preparations: I’ve missed a lot up to this point as well, but in terms of the mood and how positive everyone is, it’s really good. I think, as Julian said, we’ll go through a few more things now before the tournament starts.

...the mood across the country: I can see it from my family, my brother and his friends – they’re all really excited for the World Cup. I can only imagine that it’s huge across the whole country. We feel that as players too. For me, to now be involved at a World Cup on the pitch as well is something that brings me a lot of joy.