My Top 6 Offenses (for now) in no order Jesus, Neymar, Willian, Firmino Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Dybala Kane, Sterling, Welbeck, Vardy, Rashford, Dele Alli (most depth) Cavani, Suarez, Maximiliano Gomez, Stuani Mbappe, Dembele, Griezmann, Giroud, Lemar, Fekir, (Lacazette for injury) (most depth) David Silva, Diego Costa, Isco, Asensio, Aspas (interchangeable with Belgium) Worth a mention: Hazard, KDB, Lukaku, Batshuayi, Mertens Özil, Müller, Reus, Gomez, Werner Milik, Lewan, Teodorczyk, Zielinski Senegal
Well... we didn't have a whole lot 'star power' in 2014 either. I'm sure Werner will start (depending on the matchup maybe Gomez in one or two games), has played particularly well in two Bundesliga seasons, in the Confed Cup and in the Europa League and is an excellent fit for Löw's system with his quickness. If Müller shows his World Cup face a third time, there's not a lot to worry about on the offense anyway. Back to Sané: Löw just said Sané never really 'arrived' at the national team and the numbers confirm that. 0 goals and 1 assist in 12 caps. Not just the Austria match, he had a hard time in each of his matches so far.
One aspect of that is the Germans always play better in the knock out rounds......and they continue to do so. I can only say we'll see. In 2014 your bench players and an aging Klose scored half the goals, I expect better opposition this time around. And you dun have your NO 1 goal keeper not play a Champions League game or league game in a long time. Too many question marks for me to say for sure that a Finals berth is guaranteed. Sorry. But dun count out Belgium or France having black outs and imploding again. I expect all European teams play better on 'European soil'. The thing with Sane, he probably needs the right coach and an Offense genius. See ManCity.
The Sané thing seems mind-boggling at first, but makes sense when you see that we have Reus and Draxler at his left-wing position, plus possibly Brandt. All three have been good for the national team and he'd probably get zero minutes.
I see what you guys are thinking. Reus is not the Reus of 2013 when Dortmund was at their peak, Draxler does not play at PSG. I am sure Brandt is alright. I dun follow Leverkusen. Good thing is I can lean back and await whoever wins the Cup.
Reus was always a high-quality player, just injured all the time. We really have to hope he stays healthy. Draxler does not play with his club, you could also say that means he's rested for the World Cup. Actually don't care whether Draxler started a whole lot of games for PSG or was benched all the time, as long as he shows up for the German team. The whole Sané thing shows that so many people (not you, of course) don't understand the difference between club and international competition and feel like the national squad is something like an All-Star team in which you simply select the best players. But that's not how things work. Chemistry has to be right, the player has to fit in the system, etc. I forgot that, but last year Sané refused to play the Confed Cup because of some obscure nose surgery he didn't necessarily need. That's unheard of for an unproven young player. Löw is the kind of guy that remembers these things. Also, in March when we lost to Brazil, Kroos publicly criticised the motivation, attitude and body language of some players. He didn't say any names, but must've meant Sané, who was by far the worst player on the field. So it's not like there's absolutely no motive for Löw to send him home.
It is a less than 2 month tourney, anything can happen. Players can rock or they suck. I am not a Sane fan, it just felt like a loss, maybe if Brandt actually aces it at the WC it would be a blessing in disguise. I am just mentally recalling the Confed Cup, the best opponents were Chile who did not make it, Mexico and Portugal (I think without C7). So meh. Chile was ultra aggressive that tournament, you went to counter attack them and won. But they were so midget like at some positions it was surreal.
Anyone going to Russia? I'll be there for Argentina vs Iceland, Korea vs Sweden, Germany vs Mexico, and Brazil vs Costa Rica.
Beware of overpriced hotels, food....... same thing happened before the Champions League finals in the Ukraine.
All the hotels and airbnb's have been booked already. Wasn't too crazy. We'll see about food . I can't freakin' wait.
So we definitely need more of you guys to take the Bracket challenge. Only 3 participants so far and all of them speak German... League Name: ClutchFans League Code: 62326019
Just joined. Picked Uruguay for the sake of something different. Looking at the knockout round bracket, I'm glad there is no group of death this year. Barring disaster, every matchup from the round of 16 onward should be full of heavyweights.
