Ter Stegen returned to the pitch at the start of the World Cup year, but before he could make an international appearance he was ruled out again, this time with a thigh injury. In “Kicker” Nagelsmann described ter Stegen’s situation as “extremely tragic”. “If you look at his history with the national team, it would have been his turn now,” said Nagelsmann. “The book isn’t completely closed either, but there’s no question that it will be extremely tight because you not only have to take into account the downtime now, but also the time before that. He hardly played for almost a year, which is extremely little.”
Although Nagelsmann had and still has another goalkeeper at his disposal in Oliver Baumann, who was able to impress with strong performances in ter Stegen’s absence, there was still no peace in the goalkeeper position: Will ter Stegen make it back to the World Cup? Is there perhaps a new comeback? The national coach had to ask himself these questions repeatedly. Hardly possible to support the now expected World Cup goalkeeper.
The problem continued in defense: Antonio Rüdiger, Nico Schlotterbeck and David Raum, three potential regular defensive players, were sidelined due to injuries at different times after the European Championship. While Raum missed four group games in the Nations League, Schlotterbeck had to miss the Final Four and two World Cup qualifying games. Rüdiger then also made it to the Final Four and four World Cup qualifying games.
This had serious consequences, especially for Real Madrid’s central defender. While Rüdiger was still seen as the defense chief of the DFB team during and immediately after the European Championships, he was recently even one of the candidates for elimination when the squad was nominated. His descent is symbolic of the chaos in the German defense.
Toni Kroos, who returned specifically for the European Championships, played the main role in defensive midfield during the tournament. After his career ended in the summer of 2024 and after the DFB resignation of the then captain Ilkay Gündoğan, Nagelsmann had to completely reorganize the midfield center. One of the planned key figures: Aleksandar Pavlović.
The young Bayern star, who had just celebrated his breakthrough at the time, should have been in the squad during the European Championships, but had to miss out due to tonsillitis. After the tournament he was seen as a new hope in the German midfield, but bad luck with injuries stuck with him. First he missed two Nations League group games due to a broken collarbone, then he had to sit out the quarter-finals of the competition due to Pfeiffer’s glandular fever. He cannot play the next two test matches due to hip problems. Before the start of the World Cup, the supposed German midfield engine had only played nine international games.
