Germany reassesses World Cup prospects after learning lessons in Nations League
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BERLIN (AP) — Two defeats and last place in a mini-tournament it expected to win have dealt Germany a cold dose of reality ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The Nations League final four in Germany was supposed to show Julian Nagelsmann’s team can count itself among Europe’s best, but a 2-1 loss to Portugal in Munich followed by a 2-0 defeat to France in Stuttgart instead revealed a gulf in class.
It showed that tournament-winner Portugal, beaten finalist Spain – the European champion – and a talent-packed France team are among the favorites with defending champion Argentina to win soccer’s biggest prize next year.
Nagelsmann was keen to highlight the positives, noting that Germany dominated and created a host of chances in the first half against France on Sunday – but counterpart Didier Deschamps had already said what little importance he gave the third-place decider, and it was clear which side was more motivated in front of the Stuttgart fans.
Kylian Mbappé scored before the break and set up Michael Olise for the second goal as Les Bleus shook off their apathy in the second half and might have scored more.
“If you look at the first half, honestly, they were not bothered about winning. But they still won,” Germany captain Joshua Kimmich said.
Germany’s forwards were simply not as clinical as France’s.
It was a similar tale against Portugal, which rallied to beat Germany on Wednesday.
Portugal coach Roberto Martínez changed the game when he introduced substitutes Vitinha, Francisco Conceição and Nelson Semedo in the second half, and Germany needed goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen at his best to stop the visitors scoring any more.
Coach Nagelsmann pointed to the injury-enforced absences from his team – Jamal Musiala, Angelo Stiller, Kai Havertz, Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck, Tim Kleindienst, Jonathan Burkardt and Yann Aurel Bisseck.
But France was also without key players like Ousmane Dembélé and Eduardo Camavinga while Deschamps had to do without three of his preferred four-man backline – William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano and Jules Koundé.
Even with a full-strength squad, it’s debatable whether Germany can match its rivals’ strength in depth when it comes to player development and the quality of youngsters coming through.
Nine players in Spain coach Luis de la Fuente’s Nations League squad are young enough to play at the Under-21 European Championship starting Wednesday in Slovakia.
Star player Lamine Yamal is just 17 while Real Madrid’s new signing Dean Huijsen looked like he’d been playing for Spain for years. The final was just his fourth appearance.
“It’s quite clear, when it comes to the depth of the squad, that we have to abandon the illusion of getting it sorted out in a year,” Nagelsmann said. “We have a few positions in German soccer that are given too little attention.”
Nagelsmann pointed to Spain’s use of wide players in attack – like Yamal or Nico Williams – and said Germany’s dearth of wing backs had been a problem for years. Kimmich has been deployed at right back when his favored position is in midfield.
“Right now we’re looking at what’s important to see where we are in the world, what we need for the future, and to learn the right lessons from that,” Nagelsmann said. “It would be nice if we could get one or two of the players up to speed by next year, but of course that’s a limited window of opportunity.”
The 37-year-old Nagelsmann appealed for patience from journalists, saying he was sure with the players he has that they “will play a very, very good (World Cup) qualifying campaign and a very, very good tournament” in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer.
Nagelsmann then attempted to push some of the responsibility onto the media.
“You have to have a bit of trust and pull the handbrake a bit,” he said. “You’re in the same boat.”
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