The fight for the regular places is coming to a head. The World Cup dress rehearsal in Oman should provide Hansi Flick with further insights.
Jamal Musiala or Thomas Müller, Ilkay Gündogan or Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry or Jonas Hofmann. In the scorching heat of Muscat, the battle for a place in the World Cup is heating up.
At the Qatar dress rehearsal in Oman, national coach Hansi Flick will experiment a little on Wednesday (6:00 p.m. / RTL), but his national players are already in absolute competitive mode despite the difficult transition to the new time and climate zone.
“If I didn’t play in the first game, I would be a bit disappointed,” said Ilkay Gündogan before the match at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Center, with a view to the tricky start of the World Cup against Japan. At the only training session before the Oman game, Gündogan was able to recommend himself for the place next to Joshua Kimmich after sleeping in in the luxurious accommodation with a private beach on Tuesday afternoon with temperatures above 30 degrees.
Many open questions for the World Cup starting eleven
Flick is happy to note the ambition of his “desert sons”. In only the second game in the long history of the DFB against Oman after 1998 (2-0), managing the workload after the insane rush through the English weeks is also extremely important for the national coach. “Everyone has a lot of games in their legs. So it’s important for us to look: Who might need a little break?” said the 57-year-old.
Nevertheless, Flick expects personnel and tactical information in the largely open, 34,000-seat arena a week before the World Cup becomes serious. After all, after the onward journey to the World Cup host country on Thursday, he has to answer important questions for the final touches.
Does Gündogan or, like Bayern, play Goretzka next to Kimmich on the double six? Does the outstanding “Bambi” Musiala really displace top dog Müller? Does the accurate Gnabry or the in-form Hofmann storm on the right? How will the problems in the full-back positions be solved? And what role does returnee Mario Götze have after five years without an international match?
“We have a very good squad. It’s important that everyone has their focus in training,” said Flick and publicly avoided the crucial questions. On the Persian Gulf, however, he will take a very close look at the condition of the recently injured Müller, Antonio Rüdiger and Lukas Klostermann.
Gündugan expects the DFB team to “play a very good tournament”
He has to bring the trio back into play. Flick will offer a mixture of reliable regular players and alternatives against Oman. The newcomers Niclas Füllkrug and Youssoufa Moukoko could recommend themselves for a possible DFB debut for World Cup appearances. “Both,” Flick emphasized several times, “have made good progress.”
Development must also take place off the pitch. In view of the debutants and returnees, the selection of the German Football Association (DFB) must build up the right team spirit as quickly as possible – despite the tough fight for the regular places.
“There are teams that may be better occupied individually in individual positions, but in the end it was the nation that worked as a team that won the title,” said Gündogan, emphasizing: “It can definitely be expected that we will have a very good tournament to play.”