Football
Julian Nagelsmann’s first nomination! How is it different from Hans Flick’s last nomination?
Hansi Flick was sacked in September after a series of disappointing results as the first coach in the history of the German national team. Like at Bayern Munich, he was replaced by Julian Nagelsmann, who recently announced his first nomination, which shows several changes compared to Flick’s last nomination. Who has the new coach given confidence to and who will have to fight for a place in the nomination?
In September, Hansi Flick was the first coach in the history of the German national team to be dismissed after a series of disappointing results. Like at Bayern Munich, he was replaced by Julian Nagelsmann, who recently announced his first nomination, which shows several changes compared to Flick’s last nomination. Who has the new coach given confidence to and who will have to fight for a place in the nomination?
Julian Nagelsmann has nominated the following players for the upcoming friendlies against the USA and Mexico:
Goalkeepers: Marc-André ter Stegen(FC Barcelona), Bernd Leno(Fulham), Oliver Baumann(TSG Hoffenheim), Kevin Trapp(Eintracht Frankfurt)
Defenders: Robin Gosens(Union Berlin), Mats Hummels, Niklas Süle(both Borussia Dortmund), David Raum(RB Leipzig), Jonathan Tah(Bayer Leverkusen), Malick Thiaw(AC Milan)
Midfielders: Robert Andrich, Florian Wirtz, Jonas Hofmann(all three Bayer Leverkusen), Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané(all four Bayern Munich), Julian Brandt(Borussia Dortmund), Chris Führich(VfB Stuttgart), Ilkay Gündoğan(FC Barcelona), Pascal Groß (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Strikers: Kevin Behrens(Union Berlin), Niclas Füllkrug(Borussia Dortmund), Kai Havertz(Arsenal), Thomas Müller(Bayern Munich)
Thus, unlike Hans Flick’s last nomination, Emre Can, Nico Schlottebeck, Felix Nmecha and Karim Adeyemi (all four Borussia Dortmund) were not given confidence.
On the other hand, Leon Goretzka returns to the national team, the goalkeeping trio will be expanded by Bernd Leno and Mats Hummels will wear the national jersey after more than two years. Andrich, Behrens and Führich have received their first nomination and will therefore most likely make their debut in the national team jersey.
Of course, there are a number of players missing from the nomination who were out of the question due to injury or lack of fitness, in particular Manuel Neuer and Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich) or Benjamin Henrichs and Timo Werner (RB Leipzig).
It will be particularly interesting to see how Nagelsmann deals with the return of Neuer, who is expected to be fully back by the end of October and will definitely want to take back his position as national team leader.
The aforementioned friendlies will be played on Saturday 14 October (against the USA) and Wednesday 18 October (against Mexico) and it will be interesting to see if the young coach will be able to kick-start the flagging German national team in the first game.
Source: German national football team
