After Leipzig striker Timo Werner’s bitter World Cup exit, national coach Hansi Flick has to rethink. Before the squad nomination, there are also some positive signals. In the sparse attack, the problem zone, he is forced to improvise.
The shock news of Timo Werner’s failure still had an impact on national coach Hansi Flick, as some positive World Cup messages came from Munich and Dortmund on Friday. Captain Manuel Neuer and Leroy Sané are about to make a comeback after weeks of injury at Bayern Munich, Marco Reus is returning to the pitch at Borussia Dortmund. And Thomas Müller is also showing signs of an end to his long period of suffering just in time for the start of the tournament and squad nomination next Thursday (November 10th).
“Manu will come along and play again if things go well in the final training session,” said coach Julian Nagelsmann ahead of the record champions’ away game at Hertha BSC. They “waited until he was pain-free again. There is always a certain risk. But the doctors gave the green light.” National keeper Neuer had been out since October 8th due to a painful bruised shoulder joint and had missed seven competitive games during that time. Therefore, the question arose again and again as to whether the 36-year-old would be fit in time for the tournament in Qatar (November 20th to December 18th).
Offensive player Sané is also obviously available to the DFB team at the World Cup. Nagelsmann announced that the 26-year-old would be back in Berlin after tearing a muscle fiber. Müller, on the other hand, will miss Bayern again in Berlin because of his hip and pelvic problems, but Nagelsmann said he should start training again during the week. He is currently concentrating “on an orderly training structure. This is now the right strategy to be able to start again completely,” emphasized Müller, who by his own admission has been in “stop-and-go mode” for a long time.
BVB coach Edin Terzic also had good news for Flick: “We are very confident about Marco.” He hopes that Reus “is ready” against Bochum on Saturday. Good news that Flick can definitely use now. There was an emergency stop a good two weeks before the start of the World Cup against Japan (November 23) on Thursday at Werner, who is out due to a syndesmosis tear.
Flick is forced to improvise in his already thin attack, which is irrevocably becoming a problem area. Werner was the only attacker of proven international format in the DFB team. A Kai Havertz could close the gap, as he has done several times in the national team. Or the busy miller. But neither are “real” nines. And otherwise? Candidates such as Bremen’s Niclas Füllkrug, who is currently Germany’s top scorer, the 17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko from Borussia Dortmund or Lukas Nmecha from VfL Wolfsburg lack international experience or class.
Terzic already believes Moukoko is capable of the World Cup. “He’s doing exceptionally well. If someone improves Borussia Dortmund’s game, it’s only a matter of time before he also improves the national team’s game,” he said on Friday. Outside of all discussions, on the other hand, stands Neuer. “He’s our captain, he’ll be a leader again at the World Cup,” emphasized Flick, who can probably also plan with Jonas Hofmann from Gladbach. The man from Gladbach completed the entire training session again on Wednesday after breaking his shoulder joint.
