The national coach assures that nobody has to worry about Manuel Neuer’s calf. But both the calf and the rest of the 40-year-old goalkeeper remain an issue in the German national soccer team’s training camp.
The German national soccer team should be like a “really good family” in order to forget the bitter disappointments of the past two editions at the upcoming World Cup. On the way there, a tradition is revived.
On Friday (May 29th, 2026) the real families will join the 25 players who gather in Herzogenaurach. You still train. Unlike the day before, when journalists were allowed to observe the entire unit, the doors will remain closed on Friday, meaning there will be no search for Manuel Neuer and his left calf.
Exercises for “load buildup”
In the sural region, as the medical term goes, things are supposed to be progressing well. Neuer ran on Thursday and then did a few exercises in the fitness room to “build up his load,” as the DFB announced. National coach Julian Nagelsmann had already announced the day before that number two Oliver Baumann would be in goal in the test against Finland in Mainz on Sunday and that number one would be spared.
Title for particularly important players
The sports show camera captured Neuer leaving the gym, and photographers also have proof that Manuel Neuer is running smoothly. There are doubts about that, even if Nagelsmann had already said on Wednesday that nobody had to worry. But if the calf of an extremely important national player is damaged, then the nation becomes shaky, and the corresponding calf becomes the calf of the nation.
Michael Ballack held the title several times, and because “Capitano’s” calf was tweaked before the final of the 2008 European Championships, the excitement was extremely high. He could then play. But nothing helped, Germany lost 0-1 to Spain.
Everyone asks everyone, Tah smiles
Jonathan Tah had to smile a bit when he told Sportschau that really, really, really no one had to worry. “The way things are always exaggerated from the outside, that’s not how it looks in our team.”
Tah was one of only six players who answered questions at the media day, which was previously offered with the entire squad. The question about Neuer was high on the ranking list, but when it came to Nathaniel Brown, the question was not specifically about the calf, but rather the overall structure. “It was something special when I saw him like that for the first time. He has an aura,” said the 22-year-old tournament newcomer from Eintracht Frankfurt.
The best goalkeeper in the world!
The players were also asked about the return campaign, and it was heard several times that it was ultimately about the “best goalkeeper in the world”. The question then arises again as to why efforts were not made to return much earlier and Baumann was given pure wine. The topic could still catch up with the football nation, just like the calf.
Best goalkeeper in the world – that’s a thing. How should this be assessed objectively? Surely there were times, and it was definitely around 2014, when most of the billions of people in the world said that Neuer was the best.
The number has probably decreased, because Neuer’s left calf is now 40 years old, just like the rest. But he also just has to prove in the USA and Canada (there is no way to Mexico for the German team) that he is better than Oliver Baumann.
World Cup in Qatar: Couldn’t he have held it?
Manuel Neuer has best goalkeeper in the world games like the one in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at Real Madrid. But in recent years there has been an increasing number of games in which he, like many other goalkeepers, plays at a high level. At the World Cup in Qatar, before which he was out for a long time due to a shoulder injury, there was a slight question about some of the goals as to whether he had been able to save them.
Values become significantly weaker
In the last three Bundesliga seasons, Neuer has always had fewer than 70 percent of balls defended. In the season it was 64 percent, the second weakest value of his career. By 2018, the average was 77 percent, as reported by the data service provider Sportes Solutions.
But the undisputed great class, the aura, the experience of 124 international matches, including 39 at major tournaments, made him number one almost two years after his retirement.
Despite all attempts at appeasement, the nation will continue to ask at least once a day how Wade is doing. On Friday Neuer will be at an autograph session with the supplier. There is time for this short chat during the signing.
