Deniz Undav is Germany’s top rated striker. And still just the noble joker in the national coach’s World Cup concept. The Stuttgart player still puts himself fully at the service of the team.
Deniz Undav wears long sleeves. At 30 degrees – and even above. While colleagues like Nico Schlotterbeck, Florian Wirtz and Leon Goretzka run around the training pitch in muscle shirts in the blazing sunshine of Winston-Salem, the goalscorer protects his body from too much radiation. The 29-year-old professional footballer generally avoids the sun. “I don’t go out that much. I’m often indoors,” Undav reported: “And when I do, I take a jacket and put a hood over it so I don’t get sunstroke.”
So he will be pleased that after the opening goal celebration against Curaçao (7:1) in the air-conditioned indoor stadium in Houston, sunshine is forecast for the DFB team’s second World Cup game against Ivory Coast on Saturday (10 p.m., live in the audio stream on Sportschau.de) in Toronto, but a moderate 22 degrees.
After Houston is before Toronto
Of course, Undav won’t like being outside in the arena, which is just a few steps away from Lake Ontario. Because in football, outside means the substitute bench. And he will probably have to take a seat on that again because Undav is a top joker for Julian Nagelsmann.
Come in, score goals. That is his assigned role. Undav has to come to terms with that. He himself describes his job profile as follows: “If I play, from the start or when I come in, give 100 percent. And if we need goals, score goals. You can’t influence everything else.”
Quote clearly speaks for Deniz Undav
After initially sitting on the bench for an hour, Undav was allowed to take part in the 7-1 win against Curaçao. He came in, prepared Nathaniel Brown’s 5-1, scored the 6-1 and collected a second assist in Kai Havertz’s 7-1. Job accomplished, praise from the national coach: “Deniz did very well with three scorers.”
Undav has seven goals in ten international matches. A top rate. Especially since it only took him 399 minutes. Undav scores every 57 minutes. No Kai Havertz, no Florian Wirtz, no Jamal Musiala and no Leroy Sané, who were allowed to start in the first game, can do that. And will probably be able to do that again against the Ivorians.
Advantages and disadvantages for the VfB striker at the DFB
Undav’s advantage is that he can play as a striker, but also behind the central striker. “I can play both positions,” he says. Undav’s disadvantage is that Kai Havertz is at the forefront of the national coach. And Musiala behind it. Undav sees himself primarily as a striker. With 19 goals, he was number two in the last Bundesliga season behind Bayern star Harry Kane (36 goals). “It feels like I became the top scorer because Harry doesn’t count. That’s unfair,” Undav joked.
“I showed this year that I can use things on the nine,” he said confidently when he spoke about himself on the DFB podium in Winston-Salem: “That’s why I believe that my role is that of the striker.” But ultimately he doesn’t care about the position: “No matter where I come in, my goal is to score goals, whether on the nine or the ten.”
World Cup final on a big birthday?
In the end, Undav also puts his ego behind his big dream. He wants to hold the golden World Cup trophy in his hands on July 19th. “If I said I just wanted to get to the round of 16, I would be wrong here. Each of the boys has the same goal: to become world champion.” By the way: Undav will be 30 on the final day. The winning goal on his birthday, whether as a joker or starting eleven, what could be nicer?
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