Page 30 - Soccer360 Issue 104

EURO 2024
“JAMES MADDISON IS AT THE HEART OF ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IN THIS NEW-LOOK SPURS SIDE”
Left:Jamal Musiala will
be crucial to Germany’s hopes of being contenders at Euro 2024.
whiz kids Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz
and Youssoufa Moukoko, and their trophy cabinets cannot be used as justification for
a lack of application to the task at hand. Joshua Kimmich and others will be essential in bridging that divide, and allowing experience to step up at the right time, but also gauging when to release the handbrake for Musiala and co.
Taking a leaf from the playbook of his successor at Bayern Munich, Thomas Tuchel, may be Nagelsmann’s best route of guiding Germany towards the latter stages of the competition as it serves well in short-form tournament football. Tuchel allows his front four to wreak havoc, with two defensive midfielders in Kimmich and Leon Goretzka protecting a structured back line, in front of Neuer. While Nagelsmann doesn’t have the goalscoring power of someone like Harry Kane in his ranks, if he can spark Muller’s wily nous and revive Timo Werner, the tools are there to work with.
Rudiger’s readiness to grab the challenge
as defensive leader will be a key job for Nagelsmann to address with the hope that Germany’s Bayern players can click into club mode also something that needs to be relied upon.
The scars of previous tournaments, and a lack of depth in certain areas has justifiably
removed Germany from the outright favourites list, with a historic ability to hold their nerve at the crunch moment now reduced. One group stage exit can be passed off as a blip, but Germany head into Euro 2024 on the back of a decade of poor showings on both the World Cup and European Championship stage, and that takes time to heal for players, coaches and fans.
Home advantage will drag them up a gear or two, just as it did at the 2006 World Cup when Germany last hosted a major tournament, but they need to find a way of achieving a fluidity between explosive attacking play and being
well drilled when out of possession.
There is genuine trepidation among Der Mannschaft supporters as Euro 2024 approaches and many will merely be hoping to avoid the embarrassment of another early exit, but if Nagelsmann can adapt quickly there is no reason why they can’t go far - even if the idea of going all the way seems a little far-fetched at this stage.
Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo (L) and Tottenham’s James Maddison (R) in action during the English Premier League soccer match
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