World Cup 2022 Team Preview - Germany

Germany's odds to win the World Cup

10/1

Best World Cup

Winner 1954, 1974, 1990, 2014 

2018 World Cup

Group stage

Germany's World Cup Schedule

• Read a full Group E summary here

Road to Qatar

Germany's progression to the World Cup final stages was an unsurprising romp in the park for the 4-time World Cup winners. That's not to say there wasn't a hiccup along the way, with their 2-1 home defeat to North Macedonia creating some major headlines, but they avenged that shock with a 4-0 reversal in Skopje, and indeed the German defence was breached just twice more in nine qualifiers that saw them bang in a further 31 goals in wins against Romania, Armenia, Iceland and Liechtenstein to top the group by nine points.

Recent form

June's emphatic 5-2 dismantling of Italy aside, Germany have failed to impress in 2022 and will need to up the ante if they are to reach the business end of the World Cup. A 1-0 home defeat to Hungary put the spotlight on their deficiencies at both ends of the pitch, while their other four draws did little to spark much optimism. Germany did show glimpses of former glories when taking a 2-0 lead against England in their final Nations league game at Wembley, only to go into defensive meltdown and find themselves 3-2 down in the space of twelve minutes of second-half mayhem, with only a late goalkeeping error allowing the Germans to salvage a 3-3 draw.

Germany squad

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Defenders: Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Christian Gunter (Freiburg), Thilo Kehrer (West Ham Utd), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), David Raum (RB Leipzig), Antonio Rudiger (Real Madrid), Nico Schlotterbeck (Borussia Dortmund), Niklas Sule (Borussia Dortmund)

Midfielders: Julian Brandt (Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich), Ilkay Gundogan (Man City), Jonas Hofmann (RB Leipzig), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)

Forwards: Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund), Niclas Fullkrug (Werder Bremen), Serge Gnabry (Bayern Munich), Mario Gotze (Eintracht Frankfurt), Kai Havertz (Chelsea), Youssoufa Moukoko (Borussia Dortmund), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Leroy Sane (Bayern Munich)

Team insights

Probably formation: 4-2-3-1 Since taking over as German boss, Hansi Flick has re-energised Germany's tournament-winning potential, building a fast mobile team around a strong spine, starting with the original sweeper-keeper Manuel Neuer in goal behind the solid no-nonsense pairing of Niklas Sule and Antonio Rudiger in the centre of defence. With Joshua Kimmich revelling in his role as deep-lying midfield pivot, that leaves attacking midfielder Serge Gnabry (20 goals in 36 internationals) the freedom to push on behind a lone front-man. That role is likely to fall to Timo Werner or Kai Havertz, but the recall of 2014 goalscoring hero Mario Gotze after five years in the international wilderness offers variation up front. With Leroy Sane and Thomas Muller offering additional width and mobility between the lines and Ilkay Gundogan capable of making dangerous late runs into the box, Germany boast attacking options from all over the pitch which should outweigh their occasional defensive lapses.

World Cup prospects

No matter what their previous form, Germany traditionally always manage to turn up for big tournaments, and will be keen to extinguish the memory of their failure to maintain that tradition with their infamous group stage exit in Russia. With Spain to contend with, this might well have been a "group of death", but if they can hit the ground running against Japan, they should also have too much quality for Costa Rica, leaving their middle game against the Spanish as a likely playoff to decide who avoids the Group F winners (likely to be Belgium) in the last 16. Best hope: Semi final+...again!

Read more about each of Germany's Group E opponents:

Spain, Japan, Costa Rica