National team: Shortly before kick-off, Nagelsmann confirms Nübel’s departure

This was obvious. Shortly before the kick-off of the European Championship dress rehearsal against Greece this Friday evening (you can follow the duel here in the live ticker), national coach Julian Nagelsmann confirmed what had already leaked out in the morning: Alexander Nübel from VfB Stuttgart will not be taking part in the tournament in Germany. Nagelsmann dropped the 27-year-old goalkeeper from the squad, contrary to his original plan. He actually wanted to play the European Championship with four goalkeepers.

“It has nothing to do with Alex’s performance. He has integrated very well and has also done well in training. During the feedback, he was shown his role for the future. With the goalkeeper, you can nominate someone later if someone gets injured, but that is not the case with field players,” Nagelsmann told RTL. He justified this with “uncertainties” with Leroy Sané. The winger is “almost at 100 percent, but he was also partially at Bayern, and then suddenly things changed a bit.” That is why the decision was made in favor of one more field player and against a fourth goalkeeper in the squad.

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As in previous tournaments, the squad now includes 23 field players and three goalkeepers. The German goalkeeper squad now consists only of Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern) as number one, as well as Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona) and Oliver Baumann (TSG Hoffenheim). Alex and we do not see this as a decision against his quality,” said Stuttgart’s sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth: “Alex’s time in the national team will come, I am absolutely convinced of that.”

When Nagelsmann announced his provisional squad of 27 players on May 16, he explained that he wanted to go to the European Championships with four goalkeepers for training management reasons. This was also why Nübel, who had not yet played for an international team, was nominated after his good performances this season for the Bundesliga runner-up. The goalkeeper himself was surprised by the provisional appointment and said that he had to cancel a safari vacation.

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The 26 players must be reported to UEFA by midnight. Changes to injured players are only possible before the opening match against Scotland on June 14th. Goalkeepers can also be replaced during the tournament if a UEFA doctor confirms an injury.

Candidates for elimination like Nübel have a tradition at the DFB

Historically, Nübel is not alone in his sporting fate. Before the last tournament, the 2022 World Cup, which took place at the end of November/beginning of December, the then national coach Hansi Flick had also named a provisional squad of 50 players in the autumn. Since the tournament was held in the middle of the season, there was no time for a training camp – and therefore no opportunity for a kind of parade of possible candidates for elimination. In the end, Flick called up 26 players, leaving out professionals such as Mats Hummels and Robin Gosens.

Before the 2018 World Cup in Russia, which ended with Germany being knocked out in the group stage, the then national coach Joachim Löw had cut four players from the provisional squad in the run-up to the tournament. At the training camp in Eppan/South Tyrol, the field players Leroy Sane, Jonathan Tah and Nils Petersen as well as goalkeeper Bernd Leno were affected. “It’s not easy to tell the players that,” said Löw at the time. After all, it’s a small world that collapses for the players.

For Löw, cutting players from the final tournament squad was nothing new. After being promoted to head coach in 2006, he had always nominated a squad of more than 23 footballers before each tournament – that was the number of players allowed in a squad at a World Cup and European Championship. Since the coronavirus pandemic, both FIFA and UEFA have allowed 26 professionals to be nominated.

Before the 2008 European Championship, Löw’s first tournament as national coach, 26 players travelled to the preparation camp in Mallorca. After the 2:2 friendly against Belarus, Jermaine Jones, who was playing for Schalke at the time, Patrick Helmes from Cologne and Marko Marin from Gladbach were dropped. “It was just a grain of sand that tipped the scales in this direction,” said Löw.

May 2008: The national team is preparing for the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland under Joachim Löw in Mallorca. Löw dropped Patrick Helmes (2nd from left) among others.

Source: picture-alliance/dpa/Ronald Wittek

Two years later, when the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was on the agenda, Löw even named 27 players to the provisional squad that traveled to Eppan/South Tyrol for preparation. In the training camp in South Tyrol, however, he only had to drop Hoffenheim full-back Andreas Beck. Captain Michael Ballack, Christian Träsch and Heiko Westermann were injured, so the coach did not have to drop any other players. “He is deeply disappointed,” Löw said of Beck at a small media meeting in front of the team hotel.

Marco Reus in the training camp in Ascona in 2016: A, At the end of the day, the then national coach Joachim Löw dropped him from the squad for the European Championship in France

Quelle: picture alliance/Eibner-Pressefoto/Stuetzle

Before the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, Löw again took 27 players with him for tournament preparation, which took place in the south of France. In the end, Cacau, Marc-André ter Stegen, Julian Draxler and Sven Bender were unable to take part in the European Championship tournament, where Germany lost to Italy in the semi-finals. The then 20-year-old goalkeeper ter Stegen spoke of “an interesting experience” after being dropped. He had made his debut in the national team jersey during the preparation: in the 3:5 friendly defeat against Switzerland.

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Two years later, when it was time to prepare for the World Cup in Brazil, Löw nominated initially put 30 players into a provisional World Cup squad, before reducing it to 27 after a 0:0 friendly against Poland. The Schalke professionals at the time, Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka, as well as the long-injured Hamburg player Marcell Jansen, were the first to go, and Gladbach’s Christoph Kramer replaced Augsburg’s André Hahn. Of the 27 players who travelled to the training camp in Passeier Valley/South Tyrol, Marcel Schmelzer, Kevin Volland and Shkodran Mustafi were ultimately dropped, while Leverkusen’s Lars Bender was injured.

But because Marco Reus was injured in the final friendly match against Armenia, Löw brought Mustafi back – and thus gave him the chance to crown himself with the World Cup title, which the defender, who played in the preliminary round, then managed to do.

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Two years later, Reus was unable to make it into the final squad for the 2016 European Championship. After consulting with the doctors, Löw withdrew the attacking midfielder from the provisional squad, and Sebastian Rudy, Julian Brandt and Karim Bellarabi also had to say goodbye to the rest of the team at the training camp in Ascona, Switzerland. It wasn’t enough for them either. Bitter for Reus: He received the news of his non-nomination on his birthday. “He can only run straight,” the national coach described Reus’ condition at a press conference. Löw, however, took a risk with regular players Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mats Hummels, who were also injured. He took the duo with him to France, where the German team was ultimately defeated by the hosts in the semi-finals.