Mith three newcomers to the squad, the German national soccer team will play their first international match in ten months in Stuttgart on September 3 (at 8:45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker and on ZDF / ARD). National coach Joachim Löw nominated goalkeeper Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim), defender Robin Gosens (Atalanta Bergamo) and midfielder Florian Neuhaus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) for the Nations League game against Spain and in Basel against Switzerland (September 6). The professionals from FC Bayern Munich (exceptions: Niklas Süle and Leroy Sané) and from RB Leipzig are missing from Löw’s squad due to their appearances in the Champions League tournament. Thilo Kehrer and Julian Draxler, who played with Paris in the finals of the premier class, are there.
On Tuesday, Löw presented his squad in a video press conference from Frankfurt. He reported why he called Gosens, who had caused a stir as a regular with Bergamo in the Italian Serie A and the Champions League, and Neuhaus, whom he considers “a very intelligent player”, to the squad. He also explained that he was replacing the injured Marc-André ter Stegen with Baumann, because he had “consistently good performance for ten years” and had “international experience”. He wants to approach the two games professionally, said Löw, but he also knows that with a view to the European Championship next year in October it will be interesting when the players from Munich and Leipzig play for the national team again, which Löw said in the past Months have formed “an axis”. The national coach continues to rule out a return of Jerome Boateng, Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels: “As it looks now, this path is good, and there is no need to change anything.” However, he was also the last one does not correct his decisions “when time X comes”.
The German Football Association (DFB) not only used the digital press conference to introduce the national team, but also to talk about the challenges of the corona pandemic. DFB President Fritz Keller said that the association and German football were “in a relatively good position” and with their concepts “came into a leading role”. He said: “We would like to continue playing like this.” However, he emphasized that the DFB, which had initially cut back in favor of club football, now insisted on hosting the international matches. Otherwise the association would be in a “financially difficult situation”. DFB General Secretary Friedrich Curtius said: “The international matches are our life insurance in economic terms.”
For the international match in Stuttgart, Fritz Keller revealed, the DFB even wanted to invite 500 spectators, systemically important people from the health and care sector, but the Uefa decided at short notice not to admit any spectators.
The line-up of the German national team:
Tor
Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim), Bernd Leno (FC Arsenal), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Defense
Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Robin Gosens (Atalanta Bergamo), Thilo Kehrer (Paris St. Germain), Robin Koch (SC Freiburg), Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea), Nico Schulz (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Süle (Bayern Munich) , Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfield / attack
Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (Paris St. Germain), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Florian Neuhaus (Borussia Mönchengladbach) , Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich), Suat Serdar (Schalke 04), Luca Waldschmidt (Benfica Lisbon), Timo Werner (FC Chelsea)
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