Germany’s Das Reboot roadmap that took a hard look at the grassroots youth academies throughout the country throughout the mid 2000’s ultimately reached a crescendo into their 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil. Reanalyzing the way they looked at investing in their youth throughout German football and changing tactics in an ever-changing footballing landscape, especially in international competition, Die Mannschaft were able to get back on their perch in Brazil, but came crashing down in 2018 in Russia after an excepting Confederations Cup the summer prior.
After crashing out of the 2018 World Cup in the group stages, Euro 2020 in the round of 16, and the 2022 World Cup in the group stages, there was reinstalled belief in the Germany squad after getting so close to the Euro 2024 finals on home soil. The infamous non-handball call on Spain and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella lives nightmarishly in the minds of German football fans, but there they still head into the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico with plenty of hope under Julian Nagelsmann.
As DFB sporting director Rudi Völler recently alluded to, there’s been a fresh influx of younger talents that have worked their way into the German senior squad and made their presence felt. With just how good he’s been playing for Bayern Munich so far this season, there’s also been a collective clamoring for Lennart Karl to be given a callup by Nagelsmann ahead of next summer’s World Cup. “It’s great to see how he’s playing. But when it comes to young talents, I also think of Said El Mala and Assan Ouédraogo, who even scored against Slovakia. That’s great for German football. Six months ago, there was a huge outcry regarding youth development. Now suddenly, we have three players that nobody even considered a possibility a few months ago. That’s the future of German football,” Völler told Welt (via @iMiaSanMia).
For Nagelsmann, he has the luxury of having a bevy of younger players that have proved their worth, but there’s only a certain number of spots he can fill for the plane to the World Cup next summer. On current form, it seems highly likely that Nagelsmann would give Karl a callup for the friendly matches before the tournament itself and decide whether or not he wants to bring him to the World Cup. There’s is even the possibility that all of Karl, Ouédraogo and El Mala could wind up being in the final squad.
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