FIFA ranking: 11

How they qualified: UEFA qualifying group J winners

2018 World Cup performance: Group stage

Previous World Cup appearances: 19

Best result: Winners (1954, 1974, 2014)

 

Background

Germany are back at their 18^th consecutive World Cup and Die Mannschaft will be hoping to forget their miserable showing at the last World Cup in 2018, where as defending champions they were eliminated in the group stage. Germany qualified as qualifying group J winners, but they didn’t do so perfectly, succumbing to a 2-1 loss at home to North Macedonia in the process. Historically, Germany are always there or thereabouts in international tournaments but this German side perhaps lack the overall quality to really be considered one of the favourites. They go into this tournament on the back of only one win in the last seven games (at the time of writing), having failed to score more than one goal in five of those games – and with Hansi Flick’s favourite Timo Werner injured, it is difficult to see where the goals will come from in Qatar.

 

The Coach – Hansi Flick

Hansi Flick had a remarkable rise as manager over the last few years, having mainly served as an assistant at RB Salzburg, Germany national team, and Bayern Munich, before taking over as caretaker at the latter in 2019. After then manager Niko Kovac left Bayern by mutual consent in November of 2019, Flick was given the job on an interim basis, but following a satisfying spell as interim coach, the board decided to hand the German the job full-time until the end of the 2019-20 season.

Hansi Flick was then able to convince the Bayern board of his qualities and he was handed a new contract until 2023, however, near the end of the 2020-21 season, Flick announced his decision to leave the club at the end of the season in order to pursue the job of the coach of the German national team, a job which was set to be vacant after the departure of long-serving coach Joachim Low after Euro 2020, under whom Hansi Flick served as an assistant between 2006 and 2014. Flick took over the team in the fourth round of qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and since then has only tasted defeat on one occasion, against Hungary in the UEFA Nations League.

 

Key Player – Thomas Muller

As per usual, the German national team does not have a clear star or stand-out talent, instead, it is based on teamwork and determination – two qualities that 33-year-old forward Thomas Muller epitomises. Muller is currently the most experienced squad member of the German national team, having racked up 118 caps for Die Mannschaft after making his debut in 2010. While at the start of his German career Muller was seen as more of a striker, today he is the man responsible for linking the midfield and attack. That being said, Muller currently sits seventh in the all-time goalscorer chart for the national team, only six goals away from potentially ending his German career in third place, behind namesake Gerd Muller and legend Miroslav Klose. With one of the few out-and-out strikers in Timo Werner out of the World Cup, Muller will have to be the leader in attack and help Die Mannschaft forget their 2018 misery.

 

Predicted Line-up

 

World Cup Chances

Germany are going into this winter’s World Cup as the 11th-ranked team in the world, one of their lowest rankings in the last 15 years. Nonetheless, rankings mean nothing on the world stage and excluding their 2018 showing, Germany have time and again proved that they are world heavyweights, having finished no lower than third in their last four World Cup tournaments (apart from 2018). Of course, this German side perhaps does not possess as much world-class talent as in the past, with mainstays Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller now on the wrong side of 30.

The current German team doesn’t concede many goals but also doesn’t score enough, given their lack of a prolific number 9. They did manage to score 36 goals in qualifying, however, their top scorers were midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, winger Serge Gnabry, and now-injured striker Timo Werner with a lowly number of five goals. With Hansi Flick favourite Timo Werner now set to miss the World Cup with an ankle injury, it is difficult to see who will be able to step up and fire Germany to World Cup glory in Qatar.