National coach Julian Nagelsmann is starting the European Championship year with a radically changed national soccer team. Exactly three months before the opening game against Scotland in Munich on June 14th, the DFB head coach nominated six newcomers for the friendly games against France and the Netherlands on Thursday in Frankfurt.
At the same time, the 36-year-old is without several prominent players such as Dortmund defenders Mats Hummels and Niklas Süle, Bayern professional Leon Goretzka, Union Berlin’s Robin Gosens and Frankfurt goalkeeper Kevin Trapp.
In addition to the prominent returnees Manuel Neuer (37) and Toni Kroos (34), the A-team newcomers include the three Stuttgart players Waldemar Anton, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Deniz Undav, the Munich youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic and Jan-Niklas Beste vom Bundesliga newcomers 1. FC Heidenheim and Hoffenheim’s Maximilian Beier. The seventh player without international appearances is goalkeeper Oliver Baumann. The 33-year-old from Hoffenheim has already been part of the DFB elite circle several times.
With his radical treatment at the start of a tournament year, which is unprecedented at the DFB, Nagelsmann is also reacting to the sobering defeats last November against the European Championship participants Turkey (2:3) and Austria (0:2). The big loser in the nomination is Borussia Dortmund, which only has one player left in attacker Niclas Füllkrug.
The winner is the in-form VfB Stuttgart with four professionals. The squad for the test matches on March 23rd in Lyon against World Cup runners-up France and three days later in Frankfurt against arch-rivals Holland will be led by captain Ilkay Gündogan.
After a long absence, Frankfurt defensive player Robin Koch is back alongside the 2014 world champions Neuer and Kroos. Attacker Leroy Sané, who was banned for three international matches after being sent off against Austria, is missing from FC Bayern.
His club colleague Thomas Müller (34), on the other hand, is still part of the team that will compete against France and the Netherlands for the first time with the new European Championship jerseys presented on Thursday, one in classic white and one in bright pink.
Nagelsmann will gather his squad in Frankfurt next Monday and prepare for the first international matches of 2024 on the DFB campus. In addition to Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland are the other German group opponents at the home European Championship from June 14th to July 14th.
