Frankfurt/Main (dpa) – With clear EM signals, Julian Nagelsmann remains good for surprises even before his emotional home debut as national coach and ensures a Werder reunification for the national soccer team.
Marvin Ducksch is the next unexpected debutant to audition for one of the highly coveted 23 European Championship tickets and is once again at the side of his former Bremen strike partner Niclas Füllkrug.
“He has very good standards, good finishing. “He knows fullness very, very well, and that is certainly a component that can help us,” said Nagelsmann, explaining his personnel move with Ducksch for the last two international matches this year.
Ducksch, as a potential partner for Dortmund’s Füllkrug, is not the only new name in the illustrious DFB circle for the games against Turkey on November 18th in the Berlin Olympic Stadium and three days later in Vienna against Austria. Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich also received a debut call from Nagelsmann. In the continued absence of Manuel Neuer, who was practically promised a comeback for March, he completes the goalkeeping quartet around current regular Marc-André ter Stegen. Nagelsmann’s message: Performance principles and form strength also apply to well-filled positions.
High average age in the DFB team
Ducksch and Blaswich fit into another Nagelsmann grid. The youngest national coach (36) doesn’t pay attention to age. Blaswich is already 32, Ducksch 29 years old. The average age in the squad remains unusually high at 28.6 years. With his selection of 27 players for the last test double pack before the group draw on December 2nd in Hamburg, Nagelsmann is already setting the course for a tournament emergency in seven months. There are expressly no guarantees of use.
“There are two tests that we want to use and that are under the auspices of emotionality and that will certainly be good,” said the national coach. There will be a crackling atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium, which will probably be sold out, especially against Turkey.
Hoping for loud German fans
“It’s always nice when you feel this emotionality in the stands. “We’re also happy when the German fans shout along loudly and oppose the Turkish fans in the stands, that’s clear,” said the national coach. “That’s what makes professional football so attractive: it’s not quiet, it’s very, very loud.”
Nagelsmann has already found his basic framework. The axis with Mats Hummels and Antonio Rüdiger in central defense, İlkay Gündoğan and probably Joshua Kimmich again in the center. Before that, in addition to Florian Wirtz, only a placeholder has to be found for the injured Jamal Musiala and Füllkrug is set up front.
No place for duos from Dortmund and Leipzig
Just as exciting as the names on the squad list are those that are missing there. Attacker Timo Werner, once Nagelsmann’s favorite student at RB, is still not a candidate, his Leipzig colleague David Raum is missing this time and the two Dortmund players Nico Schlotterbeck and Emre Can, the latter particularly injured, are currently not playing a role. They have to prove themselves to their clubs for their European Championship dream.
Especially since the squad will shrink towards the size of the European Championship in March. “Then the circle will be a little more concentrated,” said the national coach. Then there will be two final tests against not yet published, but certainly well-known competitors before the European Championship drivers are announced in May.
Nagelsmann wants “second, third real striker”
The DFB returnees in Nagelsmann’s second squad are Serge Gnabry and Benjamin Henrichs, who were injured in the premiere against the USA (3:1) and Mexico (2:2) in October, as well as Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha. The October debutants Chris Führich and Robert Andrich are allowed to audition again, in contrast to Union Berlin’s Kevin Behrens. Ducksch is now in the squad for him.
“On the way to the European Championships, we want to have a second or third real striker and we simply have three, four, five candidates, but not too many measures, so we have to change a bit,” explained Nagelsmann. Ducksch speaks for himself: “He brings in a certain degree of crazy.”
The DFB squad
Goal: Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt), Oliver Baumann (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Janis Blaswich (RB Leipzig)
Defense: Robin Gosens (Union Berlin), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Antonio Rüdiger (Real Madrid), Niklas Süle (Borussia Dortmund), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen), Malick Thiaw (AC Milan)
Midfield: Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern Munich), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Robert Andrich (Bayer Leverkusen), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Chris Führich (VfB Stuttgart), Leon Goretzka (FC Bayern Munich), Pascal Groß (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ilkay Gündogan (FC Barcelona), Kai Havertz (FC Arsenal), Jonas Hofmann (Bayer Leverkusen), Leroy Sané (FC Bayern Munich), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
Attack: Niclas Füllkrug (Borussia Dortmund), Marvin Ducksch (Werder Bremen), Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern Munich), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern Munich)
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