Kleindienst or Burkardt starts in the storm

In addition to goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, another professional will make his debut for the German national soccer team in the Nations League game against Bosnia-Herzegovina. After the DFB selection’s final training session in Zenica, national coach Julian Nagelsmann announced that either Gladbach’s Tim Kleindienst or Mainz’s Jonathan Burkardt would be in attack on Friday (8.45 p.m./RTL). “One of the two will start,” said Nagelsmann.

The national coach has to cope with the loss of several key players in the third of six group games. In goal, the 28-year-old Nübel from Stuttgart replaces number one Marc-André ter Stegen, who was out for months after a serious knee injury. “In terms of sport, it’s the highlight for now, a huge deal for me,” said Nübel in Zenica.

League leader Germany Jamal Musiala, Kai Havertz and Niclas Füllkrug, who is also injured, are missing from the offensive line. However, Nagelsmann did not want to complain about this situation, but rather sees it “as an opportunity for the tribe, for the new players and those who have played less recently”. The national coach demanded that the players who were deployed in the small stadium “fully engage in the game, throw everything into it and win in the end.”

Thanks to the hosts

At the beginning of the press conference, Nagelsmann thanked the Bosnians for their “warm hospitality” and hopes, after the severe flooding in parts of the country, to offer people a nice evening of football that will “put more smiles on their faces again.”