We haven’t seen such a smile on the national football team for a long time. After arriving in North America, Julian Nagelsmann appeared in a demonstratively good mood in front of the team hotel with the appropriate name: Renaissance, i.e. rebirth.
The national coach could use this much symbolic character before his international debut overseas. Thomas Müller squinted against the low sun and showed the victory sign in Foxborough. Then he also rushed to the hotel, where hard-working employees had just been busily vacuuming the black rug at the reception.
“We are ready”
While still on the plane, Bayern professional Müller posted a video sitting next to returnee Mats Hummels and spoke meaningfully into the camera: “We are ready.” They feel ready to return to the DFB team after many disappointments. With the first training session on the grounds of the NFL club New England Patriots, which is also caught in a sporting crisis after painful defeats, Nagelsmann wants to focus on the sporting adjustment towards the home European Championship in eight months this evening (German time).
“We don’t have the full six days of training on which we can work at full capacity. But of course we try to make the most of the time we have,” said Nagelsmann. “Of course we’re trying to get the content across as quickly as possible and create the initial basic structure,” the national coach explained his US plan.
Havertz comes after dental surgery
The 36-year-old currently has 25 players in his squad, including four goalkeepers. Captain Ilkay Gündogan and Marc-André ter Stegen arrived in Boston from Barcelona yesterday evening (local time). Offensive man Kai Havertz is expected in North America on Wednesday after his dental operation.
The German team will play its first international test match under the new national coach against the host USA on Saturday at 9 p.m. German time (RTL live) in Hartford. According to information from the German Press Agency, Oliver Bierhoff will also be among the spectators – around ten months after his departure as DFB director following the World Cup debacle in Qatar. Bierhoff arrived in Boston yesterday on a Lufthansa flight from Munich a few hours after the DFB entourage.
The duel with Mexico, another World Cup host in 2026, will follow on October 18th in Philadelphia at 2 a.m. German time. The DFB had recently received a lot of criticism for the trip, including from Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel because, in his view, it was unnecessary high strain for the professionals in the current phase of the season.
