Huang Sijun, Special Correspondent for Sports Weekly All-Media
In Bayern's home farewell game this season, Neuer, who announced a one-year contract extension just one day before the game, took the initiative to give up the "C position" and pushed Goretzka, who was about to stage the home farewell game, into the protagonist's position. When the awards were presented after the game, Neuer, as the captain, gave up the opportunity to represent the team first to hold up the championship silver plate, just like last year, so that Goretzka could enjoy such treatment. During the interaction with the fans, the "Magnetic Card" who has played for 8 years took the stage to give a speech. However, in many German media reports after the game, Neuer still inevitably occupies the headline position. More and more signs are showing that he will be selected into the German team's World Cup roster announced next Thursday, and will compete in the World Cup as a team for the fifth time!
Neuer made the 55-man roster?
Initially, everyone believed that since Neuer chose to withdraw from the national team after the European Cup in his home country, Ter Stegen would finally be able to embark on the journey as the starting goalkeeper for the first time in this year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, in the past year or so, a series of situations have emerged one after another – Ter Stegen was unable to participate for a long time due to injuries, and was even removed from the main position after the end of last season. This has made the topic of Neuer's return to the national team constantly being hyped. Even though Neuer publicly stated time and time again that he had not changed his mind, Nagelsmann was also annoyed by reporters' questions. However, between the words of the two people, there always seemed to be the possibility of unexpected changes in the situation.
On May 15, Bayern announced that it would extend the contract of the 40-year-old Neuer until the summer of 2027.
Especially in the past few days, when more and more signs are developing in the direction that Neuer will renew his contract with Bayern (and it will finally be officially announced on Friday), the news that Nagelsmann has filled Neuer's name into the 55-man preliminary list for the World Cup has spread quickly and widely, and it seems to be more credible. On the one hand, judging from past experience, it is just a normal process for coaches to fill in those qualified players on the preliminary list, and there is usually no need to communicate with the players in advance. This means that players on the preliminary list may not necessarily be willing to be drafted into the final 26-man roster; on the other hand, On the other hand, if Nagelsmann is so determined to exclude Neuer from the World Cup plan, even if there are five or six names to be filled in for the goalkeeper position, there is no need to write Neuer at all. Bowman, Niebel, Ter Stegen, Damen, Artubolu and Urbich alone are enough.
Let's put it this way, Nagelsmann is obviously not very confident about Bowman's appointment, especially given that Bowman's recent performance at Hoffenheim is quite average, even poor. Just like the "Fight for 4" match against Stuttgart at home in the penultimate round, he was hit into the near corner twice by his opponents, especially the shot from the national team teammate Firich from a very small angle that missed his armpit. It was really embarrassing. Kahn, the former number one goalkeeper of the German team, believes that Bowman's mentality has shown significant fluctuations in recent games. "For a goalkeeper, when you realize that you are the number one goalkeeper, you have to defend your position. When you are no longer a challenger, you will always go through a period of time." It was a difficult period. This change always affects you. Since then, his performance has not been as consistent and good as before. I think that coupled with Manuel (Neuer)'s performance in the Champions League may have prompted Nagelsmann to reconsider his position."
Neuer won his 13th Bundesliga title, tying Thomas Muller's record.
Neuer's performance in the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid and the Champions League semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain was mixed. In the first leg against Real Madrid and the second leg against Paris, he showed his former "world-beating" level, but against He gave Guler a big gift at the beginning of Real Madrid's second round, and he "shot on target" in the first round against Paris. Earlier this season, he also made many low-level mistakes that directly led to conceding goals, such as the 1-3 away defeat to Arsenal.
It is difficult to conclude now that Neuer is more stable than Bowman at the moment. However, it is undeniable that Neuer has the big-game experience that Bowman and any other healthy competitor do not have, as well as the innate winner's mentality and authority. But on the other hand, the local European Cup has confirmed that Neuer's influence on Nagelsmann's tactical system is actually not as great as imagined, and he does not have any performance to turn the tide. Whether Neuer, (healthy) Ter Stegen or Bowman is chosen for this position may not have a decisive impact.
Nagelsmann refuses to respond directly
Nagelsmann appeared at Frankfurt's home game against Stuttgart in the last round of the Bundesliga. Well, so, what did he think? After the game, he was a guest at the "Sports Studio" live broadcast room of German TV station 2 in Frankfurt. When asked about the rumors about Neuer's return, his response was different from before. He no longer focused on the fact that Neuer had not changed his mind. "I always communicate with the players first. No matter what their names are. The first person we contact is always the players." However, until now, Nagelsmann claimed that he has not spoken to any players who have a chance to be selected for the World Cup squad, of course, this also includes Neuer.
Will Nagelsmann and Neuer work together again this summer?
, in the program, Nagelsmann never gave a positive response to the question about Neuer's return. Even when asked repeatedly, he still refused to say whether Neuer was in the 55-person preliminary list submitted to FIFA by the German Football Association on Monday. He smiled and said, "I have never seen the list myself." However, it should be noted that he did not reiterate his trust in Bowman as before. When host Jochen Bryer raised this point, Nagelsmann simply responded, "You can interpret it as you like," and he went on to say that he was "very good at communicating with every player."
During the entire program, Nagelsmann only made his position clear once, and that was to refute the exclusive report made by Sky Sports Germany earlier in the day regarding Neuer's return to the national team. Sky Sports Germany wrote in the report: "Neuer, national team coach Nagelsmann and German team director Voller have reached a consensus on this matter. The three have maintained close contact in recent weeks and held many meetings. In addition, Nagelsmann has repeatedly gone to the scene to watch Neuer's games. Like fans around the world, Nagelsmann was impressed by the outstanding performance of the 40-year-old 2014 World Cup champion." In this regard, Nagelsmann emphasized: "No one has received any information from me." "
Will Bowman, who is about to turn 36, continue to serve as a substitute for the 40-year-old Neuer?
"Kicker" reported on Tuesday that, in addition to Sky Sports, Nagelsmann seemed to be reconsidering Neuer. In February of this year, in a large interview with "Kicker", Nagelsmann also ruled out the possibility of any other goalkeeper except Bowman serving as the main player. However, there are now increasing signs that this topic has triggered a more intense debate within the German team.
Baumann: Nagelsmann trusted me
Dating back to exactly 20 years ago, before the last time the German team went to a major competition, there was a situation where the goalkeeper manager caused such chaos and uncertainty in the position arrangement. The then coach Klinsmann deprived Kahn of the main position as soon as he took office, and arranged for him and Lehmann to "fairly compete" for the main goalkeeper position. The position was finally determined to be played by Lehmann before the local World Cup, which is very different from today's situation; Kahn said that if Nagelsmann suddenly changes his mind, "it will definitely be risky. Such a decision will not only affect the goalkeeper, especially Oliver Bowman, but also the entire team." They will also ask themselves, how much of the statements he makes here in the future are credible, and how much are reliable?
Bowman revealed that Nagelsmann expressed his trust in him in private conversations.
I have to say, what the coach says doesn't count, so why should the players trust you? Why should I do my best for you? From Bayern at the beginning to the current German team, Nagelsmann would suddenly lose control of the team from time to time, making people feel that the players did not have the will to do anything for him. Nagelsmann likes to comment on everything, often regardless of his status as the national team coach. For example, during the international break in March, he repeatedly publicly criticized Wendav – even after the Stuttgart striker scored for the national team. Once Nagelsmann finally chooses the latter between Bauman and Neuer, what will Bauman think? What will other players, especially those who are not from Bayern, think? After doing this, will it cause small-scale problems and lead to greater losses?
Bowman, who has always suffered from such distrust, had to face embarrassing questions again after a 0-4 away defeat to Monchengladbach in the final game. Regarding Neuer's possible return, Bowman said, "There is not much that I can say. My letter "The information was obtained from the conversation with Julian, Nagelsmann, which was a private conversation." He did not disclose what Nagelsmann told him, but stated that he would confidently invest in "the preparations before the World Cup and the subsequent World Cup."
Later, in an interview with German TV station "Sports Show", Bowman was asked whether Nagelsmann had expressed confidence in him as a player. Bowman simply responded: "He expressed his trust in me, that's all." When asked if he would go to the World Cup with a player, Bowman said: "As far as I know, that's the case. I don't know if he (Nagelsmann) will talk about it tonight. I have no other information to provide."
During the game against Cologne, Neuer was replaced by Urbich due to discomfort in his calf muscles.
There is another party involved, his name is Neuer. This person neither expressed a positive attitude nor a negative attitude towards this situation. He no longer emphasized again as before that he had not changed his mind about quitting the national team. The Bayern captain declared after the game against Cologne: "I am completely relaxed about this matter because we are currently celebrating the league championship. I will also participate in an extremely important German Cup match next week, so I did not think about it."
In this game, Neuer was replaced by Urbich in the 60th minute. This situation was not an expected substitution. Neuer stated that the reason was that he felt there was a slight problem with his calf muscles and "did not want to take any risks." However, after the game, Germany's mainstream media pointed out that this was just a minor problem and would not affect Neuer's participation in the German Cup final, nor would it affect Nagelsmann's consideration of selecting him for the World Cup roster.
However, Neuer has been injured three times this season due to muscle fiber tears, and the total absence time is about two months. In terms of his current physical condition, if he returns to the German team as a first-choice player, can he really cope with the intensity of double matches a week during the World Cup? Especially during that particularly hot summer in America? Will Nagelsmann follow Kompany's recent approach and let Neuer and Bowman take turns? There are so many questions that will need to be answered by Nagelsmann when the roster is announced next Thursday.