There were plenty of headlines as Germany released its 26-man World Cup squad on Thursday, some of them good (Mario Götze! Youssoufa Moukoko!) and others not-so-good (Marco Reus nooooooo).
Let’s start with the positive. Moukoko has been on an absolute tear with Borussia Dortmund and the 17-year-old’s first senior Germany call is for the World Cup. Talk about timing.
There was also a storybook return for 2014 hero Götze, who is somehow still only 30 and has started the season well with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Götze has not been called up since 2017, but he’s set to partake in his second World Cup.
“I can only say that Mario is totally happy to be there, and we are looking forward to seeing him,” Germany coach Hansi Flick said at a press conference.
“We all know that Mario is a brilliant footballer, who has flashes of brilliance. You can see it in every game: he is top fit, he can play 90 minutes even three times a week.”
For Reus though, the news was not so great.
The Dortmund star has not recovered in time from an ankle injury, continuing a horrendous run of luck that has now seen him miss out on four major tournaments through injuries.
“He tried everything to catch this train. It hurts us because we could have used his quality,” Flick said.
Why is it always Marco Reus 💔 pic.twitter.com/ivoLWPoUes
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) November 10, 2022
Germany’s World Cup squad
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Defenders: Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Niklas Sule (Borussia Dortmund), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham United), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton), Christian Gunter (Freiburg)
Midfielders: Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City), Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Monchengladbach), Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane, Jamal Musiala, Joshua Kimmich, Thomas Muller (all Bayern Munich), Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Mario Gotze (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Strikers: Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund)
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