Deniz Undav: DFB goalscorer gives update after injury

Injury in the Finland game

Worried about DFB top scorers? Undav gives update

In the last home test before the German national team’s departure for the World Cup, Deniz Undav initially excelled, but then had to be substituted injured. He himself comments afterwards – and the national coach also speaks.

Double packer Deniz Undav was able to quickly reassure the football nation after his substitution 14 days before the World Cup opener against Curaçao. “I’m in a bit of pain, nothing serious. A few days of treatment and I’ll be fine again,” said the center forward after the 4-0 (1-0) win against Finland in the penultimate preparatory game on Sunday in Mainz. Undav was holding his thigh when he was substituted after 61 minutes.

Undav, who is known for his great self-confidence, scored two goals (34th/57th) and the assist to make it 2-0 by Florian Wirtz (48th). His goals were five and six in his eighth international match. He then said succinctly that national coach Julian Nagelsmann had to “decide” about his assignments and that he could “just try to do my job.” For him personally, the evening was “a ten out of ten”. When asked when the World Cup would be considered a success for the German team, the 29-year-old was clear: “When we get the thing. Very simple.”

After the game, national coach Julian Nagelsmann also commented on the attacker: “I haven’t spoken to the doc yet, but I think so,” Nagelsmann replied to ZDF presenter Katrin Müller-Hohenstein’s question as to whether “everything was okay” with Undav.

He recently played “extremely a lot in Stuttgart, a lot of stress, didn’t have a break because of the DFB Cup final, so we have to regulate it a bit,” the 38-year-old explained. “We wanted to leave him there as long as we could today, but I don’t think anything happened,” said the national coach confidently. “He seemed very happy in the dressing room.”