The high-flying team VfB Stuttgart is providing four professionals for the German national team’s upcoming test matches. The in-form Swabians should liven up the game in the DFB team. The chances of playing in the European Championship are not bad at all.
For the first time since 2010, four professionals from VfB Stuttgart are in the DFB squad. National coach Julian Nagelsmann rewarded the top form of Maximilian Mittelstädt, Chris Führich, Deniz Undav and Waldemar Anton.
Create, create, build EM euphoria? The VfB professionals could at least solve some problems in the DFB game.
Maximilian Mittelstädt: star of the season
The left-back has the best chance of being in the starting line-up against France on Saturday.
After national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s hymn of praise for statistics, the 27-year-old has a high standing in the coaching team.
This is partly due to the brutal form he is currently in and partly due to the competition at the position. It will probably come down to a fight with Leipzig’s David Raum and Benjamin Henrichs. Especially since Jan-Niklas Beste (Heidenheim), who can also play as a left-back, has left. Former regular player Robin Gosens was no longer nominated this time.
“You can see that he has arrived as a happy person with a big grin. He has the support of the national coach that he is ranked so high in the databases,” reports RTL national team reporter Felix Görner.
Mittelstädt appears “fresh and carefree” and advertises itself in the units. “You can see in training: He goes into the duels. He is the type of player that Nagelsmann wants. He could be a starting option against France.”
The 27-year-old is a complete professional who delivers with hard work and commitment. So exactly what Nagelsmann wants in accordance with his “worker” motto. Mittelstädt himself made it clear when he arrived in the DFB team that he was “confident of everything he could do to help the team in the starting line-up or to push them off the bench”.
Chris Führich: The mirror-inverted seal
Mittelstädt’s congenial partner is left winger Chris Führich. 35 of VfB Stuttgart’s 60 goals came from the left or half-left side. Mittelstädt and Führich were often at work. Führich has already broken his own scoring record. In the current season he has already scored seven goals and provided just as many assists.
Trademarks: speed dribbling, move inside – finish. Führich improved and refined his goal-scoring technique in countless extra training sessions and surprised many VfB fans with his explosion in performance in 2023/24.
“That can be a can opener if we need a goal. We need players like that, who have courage, who take risks – he does that exceptionally well,” Nagelsmann praised the dribbling machine.
After the trip to the USA in October, the 26-year-old is there for the second time; so far it has been enough for a short stint. Problem for Führich: The competition in the German offensive is immense. In addition to the seeded Toni Kroos and İlkay Gündoğan, Florian Wirtz, Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz are also fighting for playing time.
Führich would probably be a perfect option to come into play as a joker and be able to immediately set a tone through individual actions. Advantage: If Mittelstädt were to also play, Nagelsmann would immediately have an extremely well-rehearsed axis on this side.
Deniz Undav: The new joker and space interpreter
National coach Nagelsmann announced himself as an Undav fan months ago. There’s almost no getting around the 27-year-old at the moment. Undav is the best German striker in the Bundesliga with 14 goals. There are also seven templates. He recently scored two impressive goals in the 3-0 win in Hoffenheim.
Undav plays unconventionally and is variable. He can be used not only as a striker or wall player, which makes him somewhat different from Niclas Füllkrug or Maximilian Beier. In addition, the loanee from Brighton is considered an absolute team player and a good-humoured man and will enrich the DFB dressing room as a joker. Undav has the potential to become a “Lukas Podolski light”. The two share a love of kebab.
Undav is also a hot candidate to advance to the European Championships as an Edeljkoker. The lively attacker, who has worked hard to make his way into the professional world through a few detours, is not expected to be upset about his starting eleven or playing time. “I don’t care who we play against. I just hope that I get in and then play well. Then I’ll be happy,” he said at the DFB-PK. He will probably enter the race as Füllkrug’s first challenger. The two already harmonize in training. “Deniz and I, we’re two goofballs and we bring a good atmosphere. I think it’s important that there is something like that in the team,” said Füllkrug.
Waldemar Anton: “Worker” and defensive edge
The VfB captain should bring a breath of fresh air to the DFB defense, which has always been a source of fire in recent years.
Of the VfB quartet, he probably has the worst chance of being in the starting eleven. Antonio Rüdiger and Jonathan Tah should be in Nagelsmann’s central defense.
If he is nominated for the European Championships, the national coach sees him as a backup in defense, who also brings a lot of power in training and is a leader.
He matured into this at the latest this season in Stuttgart. As captain, he keeps the defense of the Bundesliga third-place team clean with precise tackles and tackles and is considered the team’s leader on the pitch and in the locker room. He also fits like a glove into the profile of football “workers” proclaimed by Nagelsmann.
Behind Tah and Rüdiger, he will compete with Robin Koch, Mats Hummels, Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Süle for a place in the squad. If he maintains his form, he should get a ticket to the home European Championships.
Emmanuel Schneider
2024-03-23 09:22:00
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