Euro 2024 hosts Germany named a highly anticipated preliminary squad on Thursday, with Mats Hummels and Leon Goretzka the only notable absentees.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann has four goalkeepers in his squad, along with VfB Stuttgart's Alexander Nübel, Manuel Neuer, Oliver Baumann and Marc-André ter Stegen. Otherwise, Nagelsmann showed great confidence in the players he has used over the past seven months.
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“When you have this structure, which is still growing but fragile after our performances in March, adding new elements could trigger an implosion of that structure and you would have to start from scratch,” Nagelsmann said before his first international tournament.
Three-time European champions Germany, which has not won a major trophy since the 2014 World Cup, beat France and the Netherlands in back-to-back friendlies in March, their best results in some time.
Nagelsmann said having four goalkeepers was crucial to spread the workload during the tournament.
“We have nominated four goalkeepers and with four we will go to the tournament. Nübel deserves the nomination,” said Nagelsmann.
“Why four goalkeepers? You can also have goalkeepers in training and Manuel [Neuer] You don't always have to. We can control the training and distribute the load.
“That means 22 infielders. I can live very well with that. We can still do proper training with at least 20 infielders if one is missing.”
Among the veterans Thomas Müller, Toni Kroos and Neuer there are three 2014 world champions in the 27-player squad, which should be reduced to 26 before the tournament.
Aleksandar Pavlovic, 20, who missed the March friendlies through injury and is still awaiting his first call-up, earned a place after his excellent form for Bayern.
Robert Andrich, Florian Wirtz and Jonathan Tah are the Bayer Leverkusen players who have helped the Bundesliga champions remain unbeaten in all competitions so far this season.
Germany begins its Group A campaign in the tournament's first match against Scotland on June 14. They will also play against Hungary and Switzerland in the first phase.
