Difficult World Cup without threatening
© Imago
After the false start in the World Cup qualification, the national team slipped in the world rankings relevant for the group draw. In the September ranking published by FIFA, the selection of national coach Julian Nagelsmann with 1,704 points is only in twelfth place. Croatia (1,714 points), Italy (1,710) and Morocco (1,706) each passed the German team through two victories.
Specifically, for Nagelsmann, this means that he would not be set in Pop with the nine best teams and the three hosts USA, Mexico and Canada in Washington at the Los-Ceremony in Washington.
An early World Cup duel in the summer of 2026 against a top team like European champion Spain (1,875), France (1,871), world champion Argentina (1,870), who lost the top in the world rankings after a little more than two years to La Furia Roja, or England (1,820) would then be as possible as the classification in Group A with Mexico. The latter wants to avoid Nagelsmann because of the climatically difficult conditions. Spain has been leading the world rankings for the first time since 2014.
The 0-2 defeat in Slovakia is to blame for the crash from nine to twelve. As a result, the national team lost more than a dozen points in the complicated calculation procedure. The 3-1 win against Northern Ireland brought only a few points back. Also in the remaining four qualifications against Northern Ireland, Slovakia and twice against Luxembourg, the DFB team can only score in the single-digit range, but would again get high deductions in further defeats.
DFB team must hope for the competition’s defeats
This means that the deficit to the competitors can only be caught up if they lose games. The November ranking is crucial for the seed list after the qualification round. The DFB team would help if Italy and Croatia do not qualify as a group winner for the World Cup. Then you would not get a starting right for pot one. Italy in particular has to tremble because Norway has already hired six points. Croatia leads his group. Morocco has already solved the World Cup ticket.
However, Nagelsmann also has to overtake Slovakia and Northern Ireland in order to secure first place in European Group A. If this does not succeed, the DFB-Elf would have to go to the World Cup playoffs in March and would be one of 16 European place holders in the worst pot in the draw-regardless of the position in the world rankings.