Sinsheim (dpa) – Worth knowing about the international match between Germany and Israel on Saturday.
balance sheet:The German national soccer team will play their 986th international match against Israel on Saturday (8.45 p.m. / ZDF) at the start of the World Cup year in Sinsheim. So far there have been 573 wins, 201 draws and 211 losses. 2226 goals were scored, 1156 conceded.
national coach:With seven wins, Hansi Flick has set a starting record as national coach. In all of the games won at the end of the successful qualification for the World Cup finals in Qatar, the DFB selection scored 31 goals and conceded two. The most successful goalscorers under Flick are Timo Werner from Chelsea (5) and the Bayern duo Leroy Sané and Serge Gnabry (4 each).
Israel:This is only the fifth time that the DFB team has played against Israel in an international match. The record is flawless: four wins, 12:1 goals. It’s been ten years since the last game. In preparation for the 2012 European Championship, the German team won 2-0 in Leipzig. The goals were scored by Mario Gomez and André Schürrle. From the current squad, the Bayern duo Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller were already on the pitch. Flick was Joachim Löw’s assistant at the time.
Newbies:Mainz’s Anton Stach and SC Freiburg’s Nico Schlotterbeck are the only players in the current DFB squad who haven’t yet played for Germany. They could become debutants five and six under Flick after Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), David Raum (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), Karim Adeyemi (Red Bull Salzburg) and Lukas Nmecha (VfL Wolfsburg). What all players have in common is that they became European Junior Champion last year with the U21 selection.
Squad:Chelsea defender Antonio Rüdiger is about to win his 50th cap for Germany. Thomas Müller (110) and captain Manuel Neuer (108) have the most appearances. Julian Draxler (56) and Ilkay Gündogan (54) can also boast more than 50 international matches.
Goalscorers:With 42 goals, Thomas Müller is also the top scorer in Flick’s squad for the two friendlies against Israel and the Netherlands. With his next goal, the 32-year-old from Munich would draw level with HSV legend Uwe Seeler in eighth place in the all-time DFB scorer list. The record goalscorer is Miroslav Klose with 71 international goals. In addition to Müller, the current squad includes Timo Werner (21), Ilkay Gündogan (14) and Leroy Sané (11) with a two-digit number of goals in the national jersey.