The German national soccer team has reached Oman as a stopover on their World Cup desert adventure.
The selection of national coach Hansi Flick arrived in the Sultanate late Monday evening around 11:20 p.m. local time, where they will contest their tournament dress rehearsal against the 75th in the world rankings on Wednesday (6:00 p.m. CET/RTL).
A training session is on the agenda in Oman on Tuesday, and the trip to Qatar continues on Thursday. There, the four-time world champion will enter the World Cup against Japan on November 23. Other opponents in Group E are Spain and Costa Rica.
“We hope that the journey will be long and that they will pick us up with a plane that is painted differently than today,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf before departure on Monday afternoon. He wishes “that we can land back in Frankfurt with a flag from the cockpit and let the fans celebrate us”.
Flick started the first stage with only 25 of the 26 national players nominated from his World Cup squad. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen should follow as soon as he has recovered from his gastrointestinal infection.