Group F: Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany

[TheBigIguana]

The Germans have great powers of recovery, but I think they've got a big job ahead to return to past glories quickly. They have no defenders and no strikers worthy of their shirt. They have a surfeit of midfielders to the extent that the German FA no longer speaks of goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and strikers when announcing their squads. Mifielders and Strikers are conflated as "Attackers".

Timo Werner is not an international footballer. He has failed under multiple coaches now: Löw, Lampard, and Tuchel. Flick isn't changing that narrative quickly. He's not got the raw materials upstairs. Havertz will blossom into an elite player, but he needs to become a leader. The retirement of Kroos and Müller will help that along. Kroos has been phoning it in for Germany since 2016. His departure will help reset the midfield. Goretzka can now make one spot his. However, until they start developing defenders who can defend and strikers who score goals, Germany will be an also-ran in the major tournaments. Gnabry has benefitted from playing with the greatest striker in the world at Bayern, but without him has shown himself to be inadequate at this level. Germany have serious issues to address - and it is more to do with the type of players their system has been producing than any coaching eccentricities that Joachim Löw was evidently guilty of.

Euro 2024 will be Hansi Flick's main target with 2026 the eventual final destination. Qatar is a pipe dream in terms of winning.

I think that's a little harsh on the defenders. Rudiger is good and between the rest of the guys they have enough to cobble something together. The bigger worry for me would be up top because I think the only real solution right now is having Havertz do it and he's not exactly a traditional striker. It could work but it could go sideways too.

But still a strong system that gets the best out of Kimmich, Goretzka and Havertz is enough to contend at a World Cup. Think about the 2014 Dutch side for example. A few top players and a functioning system is all it takes.

 

[Drico]

I think that's a little harsh on the defenders. Rudiger is good and between the rest of the guys they have enough to cobble something together. The bigger worry for me would be up top because I think the only real solution right now is having Havertz do it and he's not exactly a traditional striker. It could work but it could go sideways too.

But still a strong system that gets the best out of Kimmich, Goretzka and Havertz is enough to contend at a World Cup. Think about the 2014 Dutch side for example. A few top players and a functioning system is all it takes.

Oh, I wouldn't preclude them having a respectable World Cup - they are the most consistently successful football nation in Europe for good reason - but, by their own standards, they are scraping the barrel for defenders and strikers. Rudiger is no more than an adequate bruiser at the back when compared with the likes of Karl-Heinz Förster, Uli Stielike, Jürgen Kohler, and Matthias Sammer. By German standards, he's third divison. Mats Hummels was brought back because the conveyer belt has failed with the current generation. Matthias Ginter doesn't have the personality to play at this level. In truth, Germany hasn't produced many quality central defenders over the last 20 years.

But I do agree that Kimmich, Goretzka, and Havertz are the core to build around - with Musiala perhaps beginning his development in earnest now. Three years is a long time in German football - they'll learn the lessons of the latter day Löw era and reboot to the extent that they'll be back in the last four and beyond of major tournaments in 3-5 years. Qatar, if anything, will be something of a free hit.

 

[Billy Dean]

Oh, I wouldn't preclude them having a respectable World Cup - they are the most consistently successful football nation in Europe for good reason - but, by their own standards, they are scraping the barrel for defenders and strikers. Rudiger is no more than an adequate bruiser at the back when compared with the likes of Karl-Heinz Förster, Uli Stielike, Jürgen Kohler, and Matthias Sammer. By German standards, he's third divison. Mats Hummels was brought back because the conveyer belt has failed with the current generation. Matthias Ginter doesn't have the personality to play at this level. In truth, Germany hasn't produced many quality central defenders over the last 20 years.

But I do agree that Kimmich, Goretzka, and Havertz are the core to build around - with Musiala perhaps beginning his development in earnest now. Three years is a long time in German football - they'll learn the lessons of the latter day Löw era and reboot to the extent that they'll be back in the last four and beyond of major tournaments in 3-5 years. Qatar, if anything, will be something of a free hit.

I don’t follow German football too much at the moment but they’ve also got Wirtz and Rhein coming through right? And a couple of lads from BVB Moukoko and Gauff or something like that. But I think they’re all attacking players. Strange as I think they’ve won the last 3 U21 Euros but you don’t hear at the moment of a huge amount of top class young German players coming through.