The World Cup winners have released their squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. The squad, which Germany head coach Joachim Löw will use for the two qualifiers in Prague and Stuttgart, contains 17 players who featured in the Confederations Cup victory in Russia. In addition, Mats Hummels, Thomas Müller, Mario Gomez, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos and Mesut Özil have all returned to the squad. Segre Gnabry also makes the 24-man squad as the only member who won the European Championships as part of the U21s. Germany captain Manuel Neuer is not part of the squad.
Joachim Löw had the following to say: “I haven’t forgotten about the victory in the summer. We’re all still very pleased about it. At the end of this season, there’s the World Cup in Russia which is the most important thing for us to concentrate on. We want to win it again and, therefore, we’re all aiming towards one collective goal. The players know what I expect from them and they know how fierce the competition for places in the squad is.”
The Germany head coach mentioned the situation concerning captain Manuel Neuer: “He needs time to have match practice at Bayern Munich first to regain his rhythm.”
Löw: “We want to qualify for the World Cup as group winners as quickly as possible.”
Germany face Czech Republic on Friday 1st September in Prague before playing Norway in Stuttgart on Monday 4th September. Currently, Germany top their group with maximum points after 6 games and have only conceded one goal so far. Löw added: “We want to qualify for the World Cup as group winners as quickly as possible. Therefore, our sole aim for the two games is to win them both.”
The record against both opponents is strong. Germany and the Czech Republic have faced each other seven times with Germany winning 5 times. “In Prague, it’s all or nothing for the Czech Republic”, said Löw. “They need to win against us to have any chance of qualifying for the World Cup so they’re going to ask a lot of us. Also, their squad has lots of international experience.”
Similarly, Germany have an equally good record against Norway. In 21 games, Germany have been victorious on 14 occasions. “We’re looking forward to a good atmosphere in Stuttgart”, said Löw. “We’ve had good times at Stuttgart in the past with the Germany national team and we want to continue that. However, we have to prepare for the game fully and provide a spark on the pitch. I have a lot of respect for Norwegian head coach, Lars Lagerbäck, who did very well with Iceland in the European Championships. He will have a good, young Norway side very well prepared and they’ll be no walkover.”
