Credit: Twitter
With his job on the line following a poor run, Germany coach Hansi Flick left many seasoned internationals, including Leon Goretzka and Timo Werner, out of his squad on Thursday for friendlies against Japan and France. Since their shocking World Cup group stage defeat in December, Germany, who will host the Euros the following year, havr been out of form and only won one of their previous five games.
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Werner of RB Leipzig and Goretzka of Bayern Munich, who has 53 caps, were not in Flick's team, and David Raum and Thilo Kehrer were other significant omissions. Jonathan Tah, a defender for Bayer Leverkusen, was called up to the team after a successful season last year. Robin Gosens, a quick player currently making his Bundesliga debut for Union Berlin, was also included. Pascal Gross, a 32-year-old attacker for Brighton & Hove Albion who is still waiting to receive his maiden cap, was a surprising addition.
When Flick was asked the reasons behind Werner and Goretzka being dropped, he replied, "I spoke to [Goretzka] yesterday, he knows about my thoughts. It's nothing definitive. I appreciate Leon a lot, but we have our thoughts. We want to see a reaction from those who are not there," .
"Timo Werner is a player I really appreciate, who gives us a lot. At the moment, he's not quite in form at his club either, and he needs to work on certain things. I'm convinced that both he and Leon will return to the national team," the Germany coach stated in an interaction with Bild, the German tabloid.
Germany Squad:
Goalkeepers: Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona/ESP), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt), Oliver Baumann (Hoffenheim)
Defenders: Robin Gosens (Union Berlin), Benjamin Henrichs (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Antonio Ruediger (Real Madrid/ESP), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Suele (Borussia Dortmund), Malick Thiaw (AC Milan/ITA), Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Ilkay Gundogan (Barcelona/ESP), Kai Havertz (Arsenal/ENG), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund), Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Pascal Gross (Brighton/ENG)
Forwards: Niclas Fuellkrug (Werder Bremen), Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich), Kevin Schade (Brentford/ENG), Jonas Hofmann (Bayer Leverkusen), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich)
The Germans will take on Japan on September 10, at the iconic Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg. After that, they will take on World Cup runner ups France on September 13 at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.
