News: 2026 World Cup Thread — Hope, Hype & Heartbreak™

So apparently they playing again against Finland today 2x 20 minutes for players who did not play yesterday. A training game ….

 

It has not been made public

 

So as the USA has a strong German heritage - wonder how German support will be in the USA ? Really hope that the World Cup will ignite a great atmosphere for all …

 

Ok winners are for sure - Undav and Karl . But havertz also scoring will probably be first choice but Undav gives Nagelsmann options .

Brown started a bit slow but improved in the second half. Still think Raum if fit is a better option.
Kimmich and Pavlovic solid
Performances and happy we kept a clean sheet .

I see USA beat Senegal 3:2 last night … so will be an interesting game for Germany.

Woltemade looked a bit lost when he came on. Amiri and Beier Both had a shot at goal at least . And Sane Yeahh he created that one chance but as it seems Karl would be ahead of him … hope he can just keep doing what he does . Our opposition can not mark all three Attacking midfielder - Wirtz Musiala Karl so one of them will always be able to create something.

 

Scotland beat Curacao this weekend 4-1; Ecuador beat Saudi Arabia 2-1; Ivory Coast scheduled to play France in a Friendly.

 

Defence: untested, frankly. Clean sheet, but Finland had one shot inside our box all night, Baumann made zero saves, and we had zero clearances to their 32. Schlotterbeck and Tah just passed it around (83 and 93 passes). We learned nothing about the back four.

Double pivot: Pavlović + Nmecha worked — Pavlović the controller (team-high 109 passes, assist for Musiala), Nmecha the runner (his shot forced a save). Good for a low block - lets see how they team up against other teams.

Attack: clinical in front of goal — 12 on target, 18 shots in the box, 4 big chances, and Undav unplayable (2 goals + assist, 4 shots all on frame), Karl outshining Sané again. But the wide play was wasteful: just 3 of 18 crosses found a man (17%). We hammered balls into the box and it paid off once (Undav's header) and missed 15 other times. Against a deep block that's inefficient; against a better side it's wasted possession.

The worry: we lost the duel battle 35-26 — 42% of ground duels won, 44% of aerials won, against a side ranked 73rd. The front four of Karl/Musiala/Wirtz/Undav — all finesse, no physicality — and our attackers winning almost nothing back, you have to wonder if that's where the battles were lost. USA in Chicago will press and run at us. Maybe a better test.

OK maybe bit critical but some raw stats

 

Germany played another game — 2 × 25 minutes against Finland, also won 1-0 (own goal by Finland), with this team:

In goal, Alexander Nübel and Jonas Urbig alternated; the back four started with Waldemar Anton, Antonio Rüdiger, Malick Thiaw and David Raum; the double pivot was formed by Angelo Stiller and Pascal Groß, with the attacking front three ahead of them being Leroy Sané, Leon Goretzka and Jamie Leweling; up front was Nick Woltemade,

 

Mhh So Spain drew against Iraq last night 1-1 and France lost to Ivory Coast 1-2 - I know its friendlies abut still good to see they have weaknesses.

I see yes France like changed half the team at half time and then concede two goals - but maybe there bench is not as strong as some might think