On Thursday it will be clear who will be named in the squad for the Nations League games in October. National coach Julian Nagelsmann has to replace a central player.
Julian Nagelsmann has to reschedule. After Marc-André ter Stegen’s serious knee injury, the national coach needs a new goalkeeper for the coming months. This Thursday, the 37-year-old will announce his squad for the upcoming Nations League games in Bosnia-Herzegovina (October 11th) and against the Netherlands (October 14th) – both games have long been part of Nagelsmann’s “master plan”.
Who will replace Marc-André ter Stegen?
Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann was number three at the home European Championship behind Manuel Neuer and ter Stegen. The 34-year-old has not yet played an international match, so promotion for the league games in the Nations League would not be the biggest surprise. But Baumann is not a man for the future – he is more like Alexander Nübel from VfB Stuttgart. The 28-year-old, who is still waiting for his first DFB appearance, was dropped as the fourth goalkeeper before the European Championships, but not for performance reasons, as Nagelsmann had emphasized.
Another candidate for at least the October squad is Bernd Leno (32/9 internationals) from FC Fulham. For Kevin Trapp (34/Eintracht Frankfurt), the international matches probably come too early after recovering from a thigh injury. Neuer has ruled out resigning.
What is Nagelsmann’s “master plan”?
In mid-September, the national coach emphasized that he was already concentrating heavily on the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, for which Germany must qualify. The goal is “to now find an eleven with five or six top substitutes who can also play in the World Cup.”
This means that anyone who is there and plays now has a good chance of being invited to the American World Cup. It’s already about “gaining a certain rhythm and a certain self-understanding of what it means to win games,” said Nagelsmann. Even if the Nations League goes optimally for the DFB selection, there are only just under 20 games left until the World Cup.
What changes will there be in the squad?
The start of the season after the European Championships went well, Nagelsmann’s DFB team won 5-0 against Hungary and drew 2-2 in Amsterdam against the Netherlands. “We won’t change that much anymore because the group is simply very, very coherent,” said Nagelsmann, who had to rebuild after the big home tournament after the resignations of Neuer, Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos and captain Ilkay Gündogan .
Five match days have now passed in the Bundesliga, and on Saturday Nagelsmann was a guest in FC Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Bayer Leverkusen. Nominating a newcomer is never out of the question. Paul Wanner, who was recently strong at 1. FC Heidenheim and is only 18 years old and still has to decide between Germany and Austria, answered in the “Kicker” interview when asked what he would do if Nagelsmann called: “I don’t know, I don’t think about that.”
What is the status in the Nations League?
With four points from the September games, the DFB team is top of Group A3 ahead of their upcoming opponents Holland (4) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1) as well as Hungary (1). The group winners and runners-up in the A League will play in a knockout round in March for a place in the four-team finals in the summer. Those at the bottom of the table are relegated to the B-League, and by finishing third in the group, the selected teams can save themselves from relegation in playoffs against a group runner-up from the B-League. Nagelsmann’s goal is clearly to qualify for the final tournament, which Germany has never reached.
Source: Stern
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