The German team scored five goals against Bosnia and Herzegovina. But three goals were not counted. It seemed, what questions could there be? Nagelsmann’s team is dynamic, aggressive and ruthless. However, sometimes even the best can be reasoned with. If you carefully study what is written and said after the Nations League match, a long-standing, but still relevant question arises on the surface: what about the central forwards?
Tim Kleindienst made his debut with the national team in the match against the Bosnians; everything would be fine, but the young man is already approaching 30 years old, so this option can hardly be considered for the future. There is Deniz Undav, a new hero, because he made a double. And the judges also “stole” the hat-trick. However, this young man is not much younger than Kleindienst: he is 28 years old. Yes, he has been playing for the national team for six months and even made it to Euro 2024 for six minutes in the group stage. You could say it’s a star by today’s German standards.
You can also name Jonathan Burkardt. Don’t be surprised if you don’t know who it is. Some fans of the national team probably also asked themselves this question when they saw the Mainz striker on the field in a Bundestim shirt.
How Germany looks in the Nations League:
Germany has once again found a top-level striker. But what bad luck the team had with offsides!
Wait, who played for Germany at Euro 2024 then?
The offensive line already raised doubts in the local tournament. Nagelsmann included five conditional forwards in the squad: Maximilian Bayer, Niklas Füllkrug, Kai Havertz, Thomas Müller and Deniz Undave. Although at least two of them can hardly be called central forwards, Havertz and Müller played almost their entire careers as central forwards. However, all this did not matter, because the coach knew exactly how he would act.
The idea was simple: put Havertz in charge and something will work out. He started every game in the starting lineup and, if necessary, Füllkrug came on as a substitute; He was much more like a central striker, but remained in the reserve again and again. Despite the good season at Borussia Dortmund.
Kai Havertz at Euro 2024
Photo: Getty Images
We know how it all ended. Although Germany seemed structured, even in attack, they lost to Spain in the quarterfinals. And only once did he score more than two goals: in his debut match against Scotland. Havertz only scored two goals in the tournament, something that was not expected from the first team’s main center forward.
The lack of central forwards is associated with Löw. Because?
Surprising fact: Germany scored 50 goals in four major tournaments before the 2014 World Cup. In the five subsequent tournaments (including Euro 2024), only 32. Why do we pay attention to this limit? In 2014 Miroslav Klose, the last great Bundestim striker, ended his career in the national team.
In Germany they are convinced that the decline in the level of central forwards in the country began around 2010. Then the Germans were eliminated from the World Cup by the Spanish national team, where, in fact, there was no nominal “nine”. They played with delayed forwards and it paid off. It is believed that Löw was inspired by this model, which is why he only called up two forwards in the 2014 World Cup: Klose and Podolski. And on the way to the final, the team often used Götze as a striker. As a result, Germany won the tournament and the fashion for classic center forwards ended abruptly.
Miroslav Klose and Joachim Löw at the 2014 World Cup
Photo: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
This is what German journalist Konstantin Eckner said: “When you look at youth teams in Germany, for example, under-19s or under-17s, you see a lot of talented wingers, playmakers, but not highly qualified central forwards. “It is really difficult to come out of the academy and become a competent number nine in the Bundesliga.”
At the same time, the country is very aware of the problem. However, the answer is that change takes time. And you have to wait even longer to get the result.
And until it arrived.
And there are still problems with the goalkeepers:
An unusual situation in the German team. She hasn’t had such problems for 15 years.
