EM candidates for elimination
Who still has to worry about their place in Nagelsmann’s European Championship squad
Status: 11:07 am | Reading time: 4 minutes
DFB training group complete – “The battle for positioning in the squad begins”
Ten days before the opening match against Scotland, the last players of the German European Championship squad have arrived at their quarters in Herzogenaurach. WELT reporter Christian Beilfuß reports on the status of the preparations.
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Julian Nagelsmann has a difficult decision to make by Friday. The national coach will drop at least one player from his European Championship squad. One defensive player in particular has to fear for his dream of participating in the tournament.
The boss has a morning ritual. In the German national team’s European Championship quarters in Herzogenaurach, Julian Nagelsmann jogs every day near the grounds of association sponsor Adidas, where the national coach has been staying with his team since last weekend. His assistants Sandro Wagner and Benjamin Glück and the team doctor Dr. Jochen Hahne are there. Fresh air, exercise, short conversations – Nagelsmann can sort out his thoughts.
The 36-year-old is probably also thinking about who he will have to give bitter news to at the end of this week. 27 players are part of his provisional squad for the tournament in Germany (14 June to 14 July), which he announced in mid-May. According to the statutes of the European association UEFA, which is organizing the European Championship, there can only be 26 players at the tournament.
Nagelsmann has to drop a player who has trained with the team for two weeks by then. The deadline ends on the night of next Saturday, and the players must be registered for the European Championship by then. That means after the Germans’ last European Championship test against Greece in Mönchengladbach on Friday evening (8.45 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker).
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It’s a difficult decision. Nagelsmann openly admits that. “Nobody is really falling behind so that you could say they deserve to go home,” the coach said this week. “It’s been discussed up and down in the coaching team. We’ve agreed that we’ll wait and see what happens next week.”
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Robin Koch is considered the main candidate for the cut. Nagelsmann’s squad currently includes five central defenders: him, Antonio Rüdiger, Jonathan Tah, Waldemar Anton and Nico Schlotterbeck. A team doesn’t normally need so many professionals in this position. Rüdiger and Schlotterbeck only recently arrived for the Champions League final, and Koch has been helpful and extremely committed up to this point. But now a bitter conversation with Nagelsmann could be on the horizon.
Nagelsmann brought Koch on in the 0-0 draw against Ukraine last Monday. The 27-year-old from Eintracht Frankfurt played for Germany for the first time in three years, and it was his ninth international match. “I’m giving it my all and was happy to play for the national team again after a long time,” said Koch. “It’s always a huge honor.”
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Nagelsmann has openly told the candidates for elimination from the start that their place is not secure. The national coach has not publicly revealed who these candidates are.
Waldemar Anton a touch ahead of Robin Koch
In 2021, Koch made it into the European Championship squad, but did not play a single minute until the tournament was eliminated in the round of 16 against England. The son of former professional Harry Koch returned to the Bundesliga from Premier League club Leeds United before last season in order to get back into the focus of the national team. But Nagelsmann recently saw Anton as “a tad” ahead of Koch. Against Ukraine, Anton started with Tah in central defense.
Maximilian Beier was also considered a candidate for elimination after the provisional squad was announced. That has changed. The 21-year-old TSG Hoffenheim striker impressed after being substituted against Ukraine and received a lot of praise from Nagelsmann and his more experienced teammates.
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“He has definitely made it more likely,” said Nagelsmann after Beier’s international debut about the possible participation of the versatile attacker in the European Championship. “Maxi played a very good game. He was very hard-working, also defensively. He is also training much better than in March,” said Nagelsmann.
Nagelsmann has also nominated an above-average number of players for the goalkeeper position. Manuel Neuer, Marc-André ter Stegen, Oliver Baumann and Alexander Nübel, however, are to remain in the squad. Nagelsmann had already emphasized this in May. He needs so many goalkeepers to ensure smooth training. Neuer is set as number one. It would be very surprising if Nagelsmann were to drop a goalkeeper.
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Nagelsmann has so far allowed the young professionals Rocco Reitz from Borussia Mönchengladbach and Brajan Gruda from 1. FSV Mainz 05, who normally play for the German U21 team, to train with the national team because a number of players were missing recently due to the games with the clubs and both of them stood out in their clubs last season. However, the two are unlikely to play any role in his plans for the European Championship. And will probably have to go home next weekend together with the dropped player.
