Die Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft News & Discussion Thread - Road to Russia 2018 Thread (R)

On the topic of Volland being a possible candidate for WC 2018.

Leverkusen's coach Herrlich:

"I think his statistics speak volumes. He is a very dangerous scorer. His development is going in the right direction. Also, how he worked has been very special."

Volland:

"In March the next international matches will be played. Until then, a lot can happen. What happens in summer at the World Cup is not in my hands."

http://www.90min.de/posts/5865769-ploetzlich-wm-kandidat-kevin-volland-blueht-auf

 

That is bad news for us. I can only think of 2 or 3 times that Germany has ever lost to. Non EU team in the WC. Almost all of our losses in knock-out matches are vs EU sides.

The 2014 WC run was a very difficult one on paper, but we only played 2 sides from Europe: Portugal in the group and France in the quarter final.

 

Is UEFA opposition really a tougher nut to crack?
From memory:
2014 no losses. The draw vs Ghana and the rather poor win vs Algeria
2010 loss to Serbia, loss to Spain
2006 Loss to Italy
2002 Loss to Italy
1998 Loss to Croatia
1994 Loss to Bulgaria
1990 no losses. draw vs Columbia (not sure?)
1986 loss to Argentina

Yes, there are more losses against European sides, but that's also because European sides are more numerous. If anything, I feel Germany's performances have not been convincing vs the African nations. Even the not so talented nations.
The games vs Ghana in 2010 and 2014, the literal battle vs Cameroon in 2002. And the Algeria game in 2014. And of course the famous loss to Algeria in 1982. That confederation always manages to make things difficult.

 

Spain vs Switzerland 2010 and Hungary vs W. Germany 1954 come to mind.

The team which lost the first game went on to win the tournament in both these cases. But I guess you are right. These instances are absolutely rare.

 

We played the first game in 54 against Turkey. And 2010 was a complete fluke

 

True.

Our record against teams outside of Europe is ridiculous:
Since 1954
Played 40
Win: 32
Draw: 5
Loss: 3

 

I hazard the losses are against Algeria in 82, Argentina in 86 and Brazil in 02.
2 out 3 of those are in WC finals.

 

Those are the losses.

 

I think one of our worst losses ever against Euro teams was the 94 WC, losing to Bulgaria, after being the WC holders.....

at least the 98 WC we only lost 3-0 after Worns got red carded. All 3 goals were scored against 10 men Germany.

 

Low: We want to lift the Trophy again

(FIFA.com) 06 Dec 2017

“That night in Rio played out like a film, and memories of individual moments only came back to me later. What will always stay with me is the way our team became a unit and how much I enjoyed working with each and every one of our players.”

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y...e-want-lift-trophy-again-2922974-2923040.html

 

you probably mean Brazil ;-)

 

The match against Cameroon in 2002 we won with 10 men. That was one of our better performances against African sides in recent years.

You already listed more losses to EU sides in just 8 tournaments than we have in all tournaments combined to non-eu teams.

 

Volland not expecting WC call up.
https://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/germanys-volland-not-expecting-world-cup-call

 

The situation is tough for Volland because his direct counterpart in terms of player profile is Werner. Löw and DFB management will of course keep Werner as priority. While the other match ups are Gomez vs Wagner. And Stindl vs Uth. Volland's best chances would be just to keep up the scoring to be in the best possible form and for the comprehensive pre-tournament training camp. Same for Selke but he looks more like an option for 2020.

Seems like the main spots up for grabs based on the latest selections are Brandt and Götze. If Reus is back and healthy when the WC starts, then Brandt will be out. Schürrle also looks like an odd-man out unless he has a miraculous turnaround.

Götze also depends on his fitness. His spot will be between him, Goretzka and possibly Gnabry, Didavi, Demirbay. Younes looks unlikely. Shame that Philipp is injured.

 

Werner, Volland, Uth, Selke and maybe Arp for 2020

Looks solid already

 

I do wonder about 2020 though it's one year after the U21 EC 2019. Wonder if anyone from that tournament will make a jump to the seniors. I know the winning U21 from 2017, none are likely to be at the WC but that's because the U21 that are going are the ones from the CC. There is no CC to separate the U21 in 2019.

also depending on who gets promoted from 2BL this season, we could have even more 1BL strikers and they would have 2 seasons to play before the EC.

but would say the likely options for 2020 are Werner, Selke, Uth, Volland, Wagner and Stindl with a maybe depending on this season and the next 2 for Arp. If I was honest I hope Wagner doesn't make the WC and isn't picked anymore but who knows Low seems to like him. It also now depends all on how he does on his supposed move to Bayern. He's going from a starter to a bench player. At least Werner, Gomez, Stindl, Volland, and Uth are likely to be starters at their clubs.

 

some UEFA Nations League news

"The German national team has been picked in pot one for the newly founded Nations League, UEFA’s executive committee revealed after a meeting. The decision places Germany alongside European Championship champions, Portugal, Belgium and Spain in division A. Potential opponents for the World Cup winners are France, England, Italy, Switzerland in pot two, as well as Poland, Iceland, Croatia and the Netherlands in pot three. The draw for the group stages will take place on January 24th in Lausanne.

The Nations League group stage games will be contested between September and November 2018. The three teams in each of the four groups will play each other home and away, resulting in a total of four games per team. The winner of each group will then qualify for the final competition in June 2019.

On top of that, the group winners will have the opportunity to qualify directly for the European Championship – if they haven’t done so already – through playoffs held in March 2020. A team from the three other divisions will also have the opportunity to secure a EURO spot."
https://www.dfb.de/en/news/detail/g...ache=1&cHash=e452480faba3ee17072cb1997c2c0648

 

World Cup preparations to start on May 23rd in South Tyrol
The schedule for the World Cup preparations has been determined. During the visit to the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, head coach Joachim Löw, together with his assistants Marcus Sorg and Thomas Schneider and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke, decided on the most important dates ahead of the start of the World Cup, which will be the frame work to their preparation.

On May 23rd 2018 in Eppan, the training camp and “tough phase” of preparations will begin. In the period from May 27th to the 31st, the U20s team will accompany the senior side and complete specific training sessions with them. On June 2nd, the team will contest a friendly against Austria in Klagenfurt. The training camp will come to an end with a second friendly in front of a home crowd a week later. The opposition, stadium, date and kick-off time are all yet to be decided. June 4th is the deadline for all of the teams to submit their official 23-man squad for the tournament.

The team’s journey from Frankfurt to the team base in Vatutinki is scheduled for June 12th. Five days later on the 17th, the DFB Team will face Mexico to kick off Group F and the defence of their title.
https://www.dfb.de/en/news/detail/d...ache=1&cHash=d3ef512c029960b25f184cf9eb801d53

 

http://www.sportschau.de/fussball/n...sball-nationalmannschaft-ausblick-wm-100.html

 

Ottmar Hitzfeld backs ter Stegen.
http://www.espn.com/soccer/germany/...strong-germany-alternatives-to-neuer-hitzfeld

 

Germany actually dominated the game and was in control for most of it. A couple of things happened... Germany scored a 2nd goal which was taken back due to a little-known aspect of the offside rule. That shook them a bit. Also, the freekick from which Stoichkov scored was a dive. He essentially got the ball close to his preferred spot and fell down without anyone touching him and the ref fell for it. Once Bulgaria scored German players were frazzled, uncharacteristically, which is when the 2nd goal came. It was just an unfortunate state of events that occurred leaving little time to react... oh, Vogts did not help the matter by throwing in Brehme with a few minutes to play instead of another striker!

 

Read in Twitter that there was a bad tackle on Gundogan yesterday...did he get injured or he is alright?

 

haven't seen any reports of injury and he also played the full 90 minutes.

here's the tackle.
https://streamable.com/132hx

reason why players like Gundo and Reus always get injured is because they are always fouled.

 

Should have been a red card and 8 match suspension...horrible tackle...lucky that he didn't get injured...he suffered a similar poor tackle couple of months back most likely in a cup game