On the surface, four-time World Cup champions Germany have a lot going for them this summer.
Highly-rated head coach Julien Nagelsmann boasts a squad built around the continued dominance of Bayern Munich, including the breakthrough of 18-year-old ‘wonderkid’ Lennart Karl.
Expectations were lowered after embarrassing World Cup group stage exits in 2018 and 2022, before Nagelsman took an exciting, youthful team to the semi-finals of a home Euros in 2024, only losing narrowly to eventual winners Spain.
However, despite their obvious pedigree and rich history in the tournament, former Norwegian footballer and host of the German Fussball podcast Marcus Fjortoft told our Make Football Great Again podcast that he thinks Nagelsmann has lost some of that early momentum.
“He took over [in 2023] in a very dire state for Germany, they were playing very poorly, there wasn’t any kind of optimism and there wasn’t any style to see,” says Fjortoft. “He came in with authority, said he’d pick a team based on form and left key players out. He said he was picking on pedigree not past history.
“It was refreshing and reinvigorated the national team.”
View 2 ImagesJulian Nagelsmann will be hoping for a positive World Cup for Germany
Nations League defeats to Portugal and France last summer and an “unconvincing” World Cup qualification campaign means some of the “enthusiasm and goodwill got tapped out a bit,” claims Fjortoft.
“He’s had to reinvigorate this enthusiasm. So we go into this tournament… we’ll see. We’re somewhere in the middle about what we can expect. Realistically, I think quarter-final.”
And there is another factor “hanging over” Nagelsmann’s World Cup campaign – the perceived ‘availability’ of German managerial legend Jurgen Klopp while he remains in a strategic head of global soccer role at Red Bull.
“Of course Klopp will have the itch” suggests Fjortoft. “And when your nation comes calling… there is this inevitability, this romance in the idea of Klopp taking over Germany.
“Nagelsmann has failed to capture that imagination. It’s hard when you compare yourself to as charismatic a figure as Klopp.
“Nagelsmann has signed an extension [until after Euro 2028] so as far as the contract is concerned, it may not happen for another few years. But I think Nagelsmann feels that. He’s failed to capture that enthusiasm which he did rather well initially. And he’s dependent on results.
“Going into this tournament there are question marks about that. Then it would be a different story and I don’t think Jurgen Klopp would be all too difficult to ask to take over this Germany job.”
Nagelsmann will be feeling an intense pressure to deliver for a fanbase that has been left deprived of success for over a decade.
One of the squad headlines has been the return of 40-year-old legendary Bayern goalkeeper and 2014 World Cup winner Manuel Neuer, after he came out of international retirement. He is two years old than the head coach.
“A strong Bayern is always a good sign for a strong German team as well,” says Fjortoft.
Jamal Musiala and Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz are the talismen for this tournament and Fjortoft says youth could prove instrumental to Germany’s ambitions this summer.
“I think you’ll see Aleksandar Pavlovic in the middle,” said Fjortov, referring to Bayern’s 22 year-old defensive midfielder who has started to become a mainstay for the Bundesliga champions.
“Lennart Karl has been the breakthrough player for Bayern this season, a bit of a saving grace for Bayern in the sense that we were worried about their squad depth going into this season and that paved the way for him to come through and at 17 – he was breaking all kinds of records, the youngest Champions League scorer, youngest Bundesliga scorer etc – he has an X factor.”
Karl’s fellow teammate Leroy Sane is on the plane, but Serge Gnabry is out with adductor tear. Musiala will be competing in his fourth international tournament at the age of 23.
Dortmund’s Felix Nemcha is “another very exciting player, extremely technical, good physical profile” and Dortmund boast other young talent coming up the ranks in electric winger Maximillian Beier, producing 17 goals and assists in his second full season.
Wirtz’s £115million transfer to Premier League giants Liverpool from all-conquering Bayer Leverkusen hasn’t yet looked value for money, but Fjortov rubbished fears he will not thrive on the biggest stage.
He said: “He’s a human nonetheless, and he needs that adaptation period, in a season that’s been difficult for Liverpool for many different reasons, where a Liverpool team have suffered as well.
“I’m very optimistic for Florian Wirtz. We saw that in the last international break when they played against Switzerland how good he was.
“The way he’s able to take control of a game – don’t worry about Florian Wirtz, that’s what I’ll say.”
Former Bundesliga centre backs Malick Thiaw and Antonio Rudiger will draw on their experience from the Premier League and La Liga, Thiaw having come up the ranks with Schalke and two-time Champions League winner Rudiger beginning his career at Stuttgart.
Fjortoft says it is difficult to put Germany in the same bracket as the likes of favourites France, Spain, Argentina and England going into this tournament.
He highlighted Nagelsmann’s inconsistent use of Stuttgart’s Denis Undav as the main striker, a position formally occupied by greats such as Miroslav Klose, Mario Gomes, and Lukas Podolski.
Critics claim he unnecessarily rotates, not always playing Undav or Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade, instead putting Kai Havertz in the ‘number 9’ centre forward position, something Fjortov believes is proving disruptive to the side’s set-up.
Undav was the second highest goalscorer in the Bundesliga behind Harry Kane, but Fjortoft said: “Nagelsmann is desperate for Havertz to be fit. I think it is the best choice for Germany, he’s a good connector for Germany to utilise.”
“If we can judge the last few months it’s been an interesting time. Nagelsmann’s had some less than fortunate statements in the press. He had a big ‘tell-all’ interview where he said he had already decided who would play.
“Certain contradictions come into play. He apologised a few weeks ago for the statements he made about Undav in the last international break when he listed all the reasons why he wasn’t going to start.
“The lack of ability then to cultivate a good feel around the team, that’s what surprised me and I think it’s starting to reveal and, depending on who you ask, why things maybe didn’t go as right at Bayern from a communication standpoint.” said Fjoroft.
“I think the problem with Nagelsmann is, and I sound biased, he’s starting to believe his own hype a bit too much.”
“You have to remember, he came up as a 28, 29 year old coach for Hoffenheim, a messiah as such.
“Bayern paid an enormous compensation fee to get him out of RB Leipzig and he’s been the wonderkid since the very beginning.
“I try to be as objective as possible but he has just to be a bit careful in terms of how he how he carries himself within the media.”
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