A 34-year-old world champion is coach Nagelsmann's big surprise in Germany

In just one month many things have changed in the German national team. Poor results and the team's poor performance since the Qatar 2022 World Cup made the federation's chiefs decide to sack Hansi Flick in September, after a heavy defeat against Japan. And they quickly chose his replacement, Julian Nagelsmann.

He had been fired from Bayern Munich in the middle of last season because of a conflict with the club's chiefs and was still under contract there. But when he was offered to coach the national team, he did not hesitate to resign a fortune and accept the offer.

Now he will coach Germany for the first time at the international break in October. As the hosts of Euro 2024, they have already secured their place in the tournament and are not participating in the qualifiers. That is why they will play two friendly matches in America. The first one will be against the United States in Hartford, Connecticut, on Saturday 14 and the next one against Mexico, four days later in Philadelphia.

This Friday, the 26 players called up by Nagelsmann were announced and there were some surprises. Two stars will return to the squad: Leon Goretzka, who had been excluded by Flick in September, and Matts Hummels. The 34-year-old defender was a World Cup winner at Brazil 2014, but had not been called up to the German national team since 2021.

The complete list

The 26 German players who will travel to the United States after this weekend are: goalkeepers Oliver Baumann, Bernd Leno, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kevin Trapp; defenders Robin Gosens, Mats Hummels, David Raum, Antonio Rüdiger, Niklas Süle, Jonathan Tah and Malick Thiaw; midfielders Robert Andrich, Julian Brandt, Chris Führich, Leon Goretzka, Pascal Gross, Ilkay Gündogan, Jonas Hofmann, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sane and Florian Wirtz; and forwards Kevin Behrens, Niclas Füllkrug, Kai Havertz and Thomas Müller.