News (engl.)

The Germany squad is set, and the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico is now firmly in sight. After naming his 26-man squad, head coach Julian Nagelsmann spoke about his selection and the tournament ahead.

Julian Nagelsmann on...

...his World Cup squad: The most important point is that we’re convinced this is the best team and one that will work well together as a group. We have a few new players with us, as well as others who have been involved for a long time. Working with this team is incredibly enjoyable, and every player has earned his place, both on and off the pitch. The teams that have won the World Cup recently have always been ones where the bond between the players as a group was very strong. That was something we wanted to take into account as well. We also know that many of the players missing out have performed well. They reacted really well when we spoke to them on the phone.

...the possible World Cup starting XI: The team is at the heart of everything. We have to be the best team as a group. We need to be stronger as a collective than teams who may have even stronger squads. That’s also the feedback I’m getting from within the squad itself. Having a spine through the team is always valuable, and we have a lot of players in mind when it comes to the starting XI. We’ve spent the last three years developing a number of players in their roles, and we’re not going to tear that up now. Of course, there can still be surprises.

...Manuel Neuer: I’m planning with him as our number one. The overall idea was to try to pick as many top players as possible, but also players who can push for places. With goalkeepers, your options are more limited than with outfield players. Our main task was to select the best goalkeepers in the country, and Alex Nübel, Oli Baumann and Manuel Neuer are among them. We decided to contact him and ask whether he wanted to play for the national team again. There were a lot of discussions within the coaching team. Everyone knows the presence he has and the quality he gives a team. There’s no issue with our goalkeepers. That is the decision, and in my view it’s the right one.

...Jonas Urbig: We wanted to have a fourth goalkeeper in training who always gives everything and brings good energy to the group. We’ll be dealing with long distances over there and want the option to react to certain situations. That’s why Jonas deserves to be involved. He’s not in the squad, but he’ll travel with us.

...Tom Bischof: We have several talented young players who are close to the senior squad, like Said El Mala, Assan Ouedraogo, Tom Bischof and Nicolò Tresoldi. They all have a big future with the national team. We didn’t call them up for different reasons. In Tom’s case, there is a lot of competition in his position. I told him he was very close, and we discussed his name for a long time. If everything develops normally, he will represent the senior national team at major tournaments. He was obviously sad and frustrated, but he reacted well. The door is open for every player to keep making his case with good performances.

...returning players Felix Nmecha and Jamal Musiala: Jamal has been getting better and better and there’s still enough time for him to sharpen up further. Even if he’s at 95%, he’s still one of the best players in world football. He’s become more robust too. Felix has worked well in his rehab and gained a huge amount of stability in his knee, maybe even more than before. He played the full 90 minutes in the last game and came through it really well. He has so much talent, pace and dynamism, and he can be a huge help to us at the tournament.

...Maximilian Beier: I like having players in the squad who can cover a lot of positions. Maxi edged ahead of Karim Adeyemi. He’s had a strong season. There are lots of situations where Maxi’s mentality really stands out. He’s always on the move, has extreme pace and plays with his foot on the gas. He has a good goalscoring record and represents a lot of the German mentality that we want to bring onto the pitch.

...Nathaniel Brown: I consider him one of the most talented left-backs around. He has a lot of the attributes of a complete player, can operate in different areas of the pitch and is a very good defender. He is very quick. He has been solid at Frankfurt and consistently performed at a high level.

...Nadiem Amiri: I’ve known Nadiem since he was 16 or 17. He has always played like this and doesn’t need time to get going. He always wants to win and always plays at full intensity. He’ll have a back-up role, but he will definitely get minutes. He creates a lot of danger with his final ball, and his passion can spark something in certain moments.

...Angelo Stiller, Chris Führich and Maximilian Mittelstädt: Führich and Mittelstädt have been in very strong form recently and were among the toughest decisions. Angelo had a difficult situation during the last international break because he initially wasn’t called up. After he was called up, we had a conversation and he played in both games, in which he put a lot of pressure on himself. He did very well in both, and I was really pleased with him, including the way he carried himself. Along with Aleksandar Pavlovic, he is the most solid holding midfielder we have. I feel extremely sorry for Maxi. He had one brief dip, and the other two candidates did well at that time. Chris deserves a lot of credit too for the way he reacted. He had a very good second half of the season, but he was never quite able to show the kind of form he displayed at VfB with us. We then had to make a decision, and because of his versatility, we went with Jamie Leweling.

...Leroy Sané: He has five goal involvements in his last four games for us. He always divides opinion because of the way he carries himself. But he is held in extremely high regard within the team and can produce special things in tight spaces. Against deep-lying opponents in particular, he can make things happen with his pace and interplay. I believe I can get the best out of him so that, by the end of the World Cup, there are more positive comments than negative ones.

...the strikers: Tim Kleindienst was out for almost a year, and he’s a player who needs to find his rhythm. I would have loved to have him with us, but after such a long injury, unfortunately we couldn’t do that. With Niclas Füllkrug, it came down to his recent goalscoring record. He had gone a long spell without scoring regularly. Nicolò Tresoldi was in the conversation for a long time, but the problem is that you always have to leave players at home.

...the delayed squad announcement: Generally speaking, from a coach’s point of view, it’s always good to make a squad announcement as late as possible. This was the perfect time to give the injured players enough time to come back. In that respect, postponing it was the right thing to do.

...his outlook for the tournament: Every team wants to win the World Cup – the emphasis is on wants – and so do we. That takes good performances, but also a bit of luck. Every player must show that desire every day and do everything they can for the team.

...coming up against the top teams: I think we’re ready. The situation before the EUROs at home was not massively different, and we weren’t second best against Spain either. It always comes down to form on the day and things you can’t influence. We can’t manufacture excitement. Our job is to create the moments that get the fans carried away. We can only influence what we can influence.

...the road to the World Cup: Football is the most important of life’s less important things. There have been an awful lot of discussions, a lot of things that you question while trying to make the right decisions. Now we’re all just looking forward to it. It will be a huge challenge, but we’ll face up to it. We’re raring to go.