Nathaniel Brown has long been planned as a backup, and it was even unclear whether Felix Nmecha would be fit in time for the World Cup. Now both are 1-A solutions.
Berti Vogts scored a legendary goal for the German national team. He scored in an 8-0 win against Malta in February 1976 to make it 7-0. It was the first goal in the full-back’s 69th international match, who had already become European and World Champion at that point.
It was also legendary because Vogts, who was already 29 years old at the time, had been called upon to take the penalty in the game with chants from the audience in Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion, but he declined because his teammate Erich Beer was slated for it. The audience went wild even more when Vogts scored with a diving header.
Brown scored for the first time in the first World Cup game
Nathaniel Brown will be 23 years old on Tuesday (June 16, 2026). He hasn’t won any titles yet and he only won his sixth international match two days before his birthday. But when it comes to scoring goals, he is in a much greater hurry than Berti Vogts. He also scored his first goal in his first game at a World Cup.
It was 5-1 in a 7-1 win against Curacao, so it probably won’t be a legendary goal. But for Brown it was “It’s indescribable to score here in my first World Cup game. My family is there – and the way the boys cheered with me is simply unbelievable.”
FC Bayern probably wants to pay more than 50 million euros for Brown
In the Bundesliga, Brown scored in his second game for Eintracht Frankfurt. He has now played 59 games for the Hessians and seems to be staying that way for the time being. If the rumors are true, the Upper Palatinate native is about to move to FC Bayern Munich, which will cost him more than 50 million euros.
Brown is currently racing through his career, thanks in part to his speed. He reaches around 36 kilometers per hour on the pitch, but that wouldn’t have been enough to steal the left-back position from David Raum in the national team.
Brown represents Nagelsmann’s game
It also required a bold demeanor on the pitch, good defensive work and tactical discipline. Brown likes to move a little to the middle instead of sprinting down the sideline like space. This makes the field a little narrower, which is how national coach Julian Nagelsmann likes it.
Even without the goal, the performance against Curacao would have been completely sufficient to be back in the starting line-up next Saturday in the second group game against Ivory Coast in Toronto.
Nmecha outplayed Goretzka
Felix Nmecha also outplayed an older and established colleague in the national team. He pushed Leon Goretzka out of the team, who, like Raum, seemed set to be the starter in March. Nmecha was in even more of a hurry than Brown on Sunday in Houston. He scored 1-0 in the 6th minute.
“This is a special moment for me and my family”he said at the Sportschau microphone about his second goal in his ninth international match. It almost became an even more special day because a little later a sharp shot just missed the post.
German protection for Nmecha is not always optimal against Curacao
Before the twelfth minute of the game was over, Nmecha had already fired his third shot on goal. A proud record for a nominally defensive midfielder, but who usually operates much further forward because right-back Joshua Kimmich, like Brown on the other side, moves inwards when Germans have the ball and thus protects Nmecha. That didn’t always go well against Curacao, but it was manageable against the World Cup newcomer.
Brown and Nmecha, who was out for two international friendly games and in the Bundesliga for Borussia Dortmund from the end of March to the beginning of May due to a knee injury, have gone from backups to the 1-A solution. And in no time at all.