Lots of brother pairings have featured together in the Germany national team. Brothers Karl-Heinz and Bernd Förster played together for Germany as have the Bender twins and the Itter twins who currently play together in the Germany U19s. However, brothers Johannes and Maximilian Eggestein are something special as it rarely is the case with the Germany youth teams that brothers, who are born two years apart, play in the same team. Like at their club, SV Werder Bremen, they are both training together, but this time in the Germany U21s under the stewardship of coach Stefan Kuntz.
“It was certainly a surprise that we’d both be in the U21 squad together”, Johannes Eggestein commented. He was born in 1998 and so could’ve been playing with the U20s instead. “I’m really proud to be in the U21s and our parents and little sister are really happy that I’m now playing in the national team with Maxi.”
Maximilian experienced in the Bundesliga, Johannes a debutant
Maximilian, he’s the other Eggestein. Born in 1996 and a Bundesliga regular, he’s the experienced one of the Eggestein brothers. He has played 26 times in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen whilst Johannes celebrated his first appearance in Germany’s top flight last weekend against Bayern (2-0 loss). Johannes has played more often in the Germany youth ranks and has featured for the U15s, U16s, U17s and U19s. In contrast Maximilian made his national debut almost exactly two years ago, for the U20s. And now both Eggesteins want to show off what they can do in the U21s and show that they have rightly been given this chance.
The Hannover-born youngsters have had positive first impressions of the four training sessions so far: "There is a great mixture of a laid-back attitude and a serious one,” Maximilian explains. “You could see even after the European Championships title that the new team coming through wants to achieve something.” And the road to success starts on Friday with a friendly against Hungary (KO 18:00 CEST) before they start their European Championships qualification against Kosovo on Tuesday (KO 19:00 CEST). The first training session at the team’s base camp in Harsewinkel was more based around team building for the new cohort but some preparation for the upcoming games was included. “Kosovo and Hungary will both sit quite deep and so the focus of our training has been on crosses and finishing,” Johannes disclosed.
Two brothers, different qualities
On the theme of finishing, the younger Eggestein is in his element, with 24 goals so far in 39 games for the Germany youth teams. His brother Maximilian describes his brother’s main assets: “He is a poacher. He finishes well, has an eye for goals and his positioning is great.” Maximilian’s skills are just as clear to his brother Johannes: “He is a midfield all-rounder, most of the time he plays as a defensive or attacking midfielder. He’s good defensively but he can also play a decisive attacking pass and be dangerous in front of goal.”
Two brothers valuing each other – and not just in terms of their footballing skills. Along with the time at SV Werder Bremen together, they are now together in the Germany national setup. “It sounds like we’re forced to spend time with each other,” Maximilian jokes. “It all just shows that we have both done pretty well football-wise so far.”
