But not on May 12th
©IMAGO
National coach Julian Nagelsmann adjusted the German national team’s World Cup schedule again around six weeks before the start of the tournament. The announcement of the 26-man squad for the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico, initially scheduled for May 12th, has been postponed to May 21st. The preparation for the World Cup at the headquarters in Herzogenaurach will now only begin on May 27th, two days later than originally planned. The DFB announced this on Tuesday.
The reason for the time adjustments are current developments in club football, which is still ongoing. Nagelsmann now wants to wait for the last Bundesliga matchday on May 16th in order to be able to gain impressions of potential World Cup players until the end. Possibly also from currently injured players such as Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha or Bayern youngster Lennart Karl, who could still play in the final spurt of the season.
The later meeting for the training camp in Franconia is also based on the DFB Cup final between FC Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart on May 23rd in Berlin. Both clubs are likely to have a large number of World Championship drivers. Now preparations for the World Cup don’t begin until four days later.
However, it could happen that, despite the adjustments, Nagelsmann will not have the entire World Cup squad together on May 27th. Bayern, who are likely to have the most tournament participants in the DFB squad, can still move into the Champions League final on May 30th in Budapest with a semi-final win against defending champions Paris Saint-Germain. The same applies to offensive player Kai Havertz from Arsenal FC.
Before leaving for the USA on June 2nd, the DFB selection will play a friendly against Finland in Mainz on May 31st. The World Cup dress rehearsal will then take place on June 6th in Chicago against tournament co-host USA. Two days later, the DFB entourage will move into their World Cup quarters in Winston-Salem in North Carolina.
The German team starts the tournament on June 14th in Houston against Curaçao. Other group opponents are the Ivory Coast on June 20th in Toronto and Ecuador on June 25th in the World Cup final stadium in East Rutherford near New York.
