Test matches before the 2026 World Cup: The “sixes” at the DFB – Nagelsmann’s central question

As of: March 26, 2026 • 11:00 p.m

Toni Kroos no longer plays, and a national coach can’t clone Joshua Kimmich – both are annoying for Julian Nagelsmann. Two and a half months before the start of the World Cup, he is holding a casting that would also be well received on private television: Germany is looking for the super six.

There was a moment recently when Julian Nagelsmann gave the impression for a few seconds that he had already solved his biggest sporting problem, quietly and secretly. “He has the great gift of connecting people”said Nagelsmann a few days ago when he introduced his squad for the test matches against Switzerland (Friday, March 27th, 2026, from 8:45 p.m. in the audio stream and in the live ticker) and Ghana (Monday, March 30th, 2026, from 8:15 p.m. in the live stream, in the audio stream and in the live ticker). He talked about one of the “sixes” in the squad. As a “Magnet” acts between the individual players. “He is always an extension of the coach.”

Nagelsmann was referring to Pascal Groß, 34, whom he had previously ignored in four international matches in the autumn. Now Groß is back – but he is not the World Cup solution to Nagelsmann’s central question. Groß, said Nagelsmann, is one of these “Squad players who are not part of the first eleven and can still be extremely important.”

Big, we now know, scores points for social acceptability, but will still not be in the starting eleven in the friendly against Switzerland. There will be someone in it that you didn’t expect: Angelo Stiller. “He will begin”said Nagelsmann the evening before the game. He hadn’t originally invited Stiller, 24, because he was a “outstanding footballer” but also not one for the starting eleven. And Nagelsmann did not envisage a role like Groß’s for Stiller.

In addition to Stiller, who only moved up because two competitors, Aleksandar Pavlović, 21, and Felix Nmecha, 25, had to withdraw injured, Leon Goretzka will play. The national coach has already revealed that. Goretzka, 31, has also been ignored by Nagelsmann. To the surprise of many, he was only a spectator at the 2024 European Championships.

Kroos no longer plays. You can’t clone Kimmich. And now?

The six position is perhaps the most important in modern football. National coach Nagelsmann calls her that “The heart of every team”. The centerpiece of the national team currently has a cardiac arrhythmia. The DFB is therefore holding a casting two and a half months before the start of the 2026 World Cup that would also be well received on private television: Germany is looking for the super six.

Nagelsmann has tried out a lot in two and a half years as national coach, including in defensive midfield. He wasn’t always successful. But the plan with Toni Kroos worked. Nagelsmann convinced Kroos to return to the national team for the 2024 European Championships. Kroos provided the playmaker from deep who didn’t shy away from tackles. It was also due to him that Germany impressed at this tournament and unfortunately only failed at the eventual European champions Spain.

The only problem for the national coach is: Kroos ended his career after the tournament. So it has to work without him. Captain Joshua Kimmich, 31, would come closest to him; there is no better “six” in Germany in the post-Kroos era. But Kimmich is also Germany’s best right-back, another problematic position.

Nagelsmann has therefore changed his opinion about Kimmich’s place of deployment more than once, most recently in the autumn when he appointed Kimmich as the new super six, only to reinstate him as a right-back four weeks later. Now Nagelsmann has decided, perhaps for real this time: Kimmich will play at right back.

Pavlović and Nmecha are out. “Annoying,” says the national coach

The six-person casting will therefore take place without Kimmich, that’s what Nagelsmann decided. But at least for the time being it will take place without Pavlović and Nmecha, without two players whose profiles would be completely compatible with each other: a strategist who, like Kroos in the past, makes the game from deep. That would have been Pavlović’s job. And as a complement to this, Nmecha, who doesn’t shy away from tackles, but also repeatedly appears around the opponent’s penalty area.

You won’t see them playing side by side in the national team jersey any time soon. Nmecha has suffered a lateral ligament injury in his knee and it is unclear whether he will be fit again for the World Cup. And Pavlović has problems with his hip – how long he will be out is unclear. Their failures were “annoying,” said Nagelsmann.

Goretzka has a good chance of getting a regular place

A place in the “six” should not go to Goretzka just for that reason. He is not a strategist like Kroos or Kimmich, nor is he a clearer who first defines himself through defensive duels. Of course, his greatest strength has not gone unnoticed by the national coach. “He always goes into the box”said Nagelsmann when nominating the squad and meant the opponent’s penalty area. It was a compliment.

Stiller can appear alongside Goretzka against Switzerland, but Groß and Anton Stach, 27, are also expected to play there or days later against Ghana. While Groß should have his place in the World Cup squad securely, keyword: social acceptability, Stach is more of an outsider in the six-man casting. His performances in the Premier League, where he impressed at Leeds United, speak for him.