The Daily Bee: Germany Announced World Cup Squad

The Qatar World Cup is just ten days away, which means that we have all the excitement of the squad announcements this week. Germany announced their 26-man squad for the upcoming tournament this morning, and everyone has some opinions about Hansi Flick’s selections.

Among the players heading off to play football in the sweltering heat of Western Asia will be five Borussia Dortmund representatives (and one from Saints!): Nico Schlotterbeck, Niklas Süle, Karim Adeyemi, Julian Brandt, and Youssoufa Moukoko. The two center backs were never really in doubt, but there were some questions about any of Adeyemi, Brandt, and Moukoko would make it. In Moukoko’s case, this is a huge step for a 17-year-old kid with no previous experience as a full international, but with injuries to Marco Reus and Timo Werner, there were a few extra spots in the squad, and Moukoko’s form has been excellent lately.

Here’s how the rest of the squad looks:

There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, another uncapped player that looks to have benefited from injuries is Niclas Füllkrug, but there’s also a return to the Germany squad for former BVB man Mario Götze.

Perhaps the biggest omission (that was not a result of injury) is Mats Hummels. Hummels has been in tremendous form this season, and it’s a little surprising that Flick didn’t want to bring the experience that BVB’s vice captain offers. It’s especially puzzling giving someone like Lukas Klostermann has played exactly one league game for RB Leipzig this season.

When asked about his decision, Hansi Flick had this to say:

The Links

Since there is basically only World Cup squad news at the moment, and we will cover some of that separately, I have nothing else to offer you... Except for this:

The Daily Buzz

What do you make of this Germany squad? Would you have taken Mats Hummels?