Is the Germany striker crisis over?
With Timo Werner injured, two uncapped forwards are set to head to the World Cup
It has been a very busy few months for me and a very quiet few months for the Fußball in English newsletter, so thanks for sticking around if you have and welcome to a surprising number of new subscribers! I can only assume at least some of you have found your way here because you’re worried a certain South African will make a certain Bird App unusable. Or maybe you just want some more German football content in your lives. Either way, welcome, I’m happy to be writing for you, I hope you enjoy it, and much more regular updates will now resume. If you don’t subscribe already, you know what to do to get these pieces sent straight to your inbox.
As if the non-stop football wasn’t enough (and the packed schedule really does make it hard to keep a newsletter relevant alongside having an actual job), some busy personal life admin (sorry if my wife is reading this, I don’t actually mean that our wedding was just ‘admin’) has kept me busy but I am now back and recharged and ready to take a weekly look at all things German football again.
Well, one thing each week. And with the World Cup squad set to be announced on Thursday, there is only one place to start.
No matter how well Germany do at this winter’s World Cup, last week was one the nation will likely look back on. It was the week they lost Timo Werner.
Let’s be clear now: Werner is by no means widely loved, nor is he widely rated, nor is the wider population particularly convinced that he is the answer to any of the questions that need answering. But Germany have had a striker problem for years and Werner, warts and all, has been the closest thing to a solution.
Since the international retirement of Miroslav Klose, the most prolific goalscorer in World Cup finals history, the German centre-forward topic has been inescapable. Having failed to produce anything like a world class striker, Germany have tried false nines, wingers up front, and a couple of middling target men. Nothing has really convinced. But Werner, with a respectable 24 goals in 55 caps, hasn’t done too badly. That’s why he has played in all 13 games he has been available for since Hansi Flick took over the national team, starting 11 times and missing the other two Germanny games in the last 18 months through injury. A return of seven goals has been just fine but Werner remains a player who relies on service, is far from clinical, and runs hot and cold.
And now he isn’t even available.
The answer to the question ‘Who will/should start up front for Germany in Qatar?’ was previously unconvincing but obvious. Now it’s a total unknown, even if two likely candidates to replace Werner have emerged.
Excluding Kai Havertz and Serge Gnabry — both certain to be called up and contribute enormously this winter — Germany will now turn to two uncapped centre-forwards with completely different styles at totally different moments in their careers. Conveniently for the narrative, they both scored at the weekend, just as everyone turned to see if they had what it takes to stake a claim.
Big, burly striker Niclas Füllkrug offers something a bit different to anyone else in the frame and Flick knows it.
“We can see that Niclas has attributed that could add to our game,” the Germany head coach said a few days ago. “A big, athletic, penalty box striker would make our attacking game more variable.”
Füllkrug has 10 goals (three of those penalties) in 13 Bundesliga appearances this season, playing the role of target man for an attack-minded, newly-promoted Werder Bremen side. He scored 19 in the second tier last season and his previous two Bundesliga campaigns also saw him find the net regularly when injuries weren’t keeping him off the pitch.
The 29-year-old is by no means poor in other areas but his game, especially at the top level, is and will be defined by his sharp movement in the box, his physicality, his ability in the air. Oh, and a never-say-die attitude: half of his goals this season (including all three penalties) have come in the 85th minute or later. Maybe he’s the perfect Plan B forward for a knockout competition when you need a goal and can ask him to physically jostle with tired opponents.
And then there’s 17-year-old Youssoufa Moukoko. The youngest player in Bundesliga history — he’s so highly rated in Germany they essentially changed the rules so he could set that record at 16 — may only turn 18 three days before Germany’s World Cup opener but he has already been around long enough to show his recent run of form is no fluke.
The striker became the Bundesliga’s youngest ever goalscorer two years ago next month and, despite limited playing time, followed that up with another four Bundesliga goals before the current campaign kicked off.
Now, in the second half of 2022, he has truly celebrated his breakthrough. It is hard to keep in mind that Moukoko is still just 17 but that lack of experience has at times shone through in his poor decision making, especially when the season started and he was being introduced from the bench. A run of starts recently has shown him to be a fast learner, playing with his head up more often and no longer snatching at shots when team-mates are better placed.
Moukoko started on the opening day of the season and looked a little overawed, unable to assert himself physically and rushing on the ball. He dropped to the bench consistently changing games as a sub — a goal and an assist against Freiburg, the winner in Dortmund’s derby win against local rivals Schalke, the goal to halve Bayern’s advantage in October’s 2-2 draw — and has now started five Bundesliga games in a row.
He is repaying the faith of head coach Edin Terzić with goals — one every 98 minutes in the league this season — and the most exciting thing is how different they look. There have been tap-ins, there has been a header, and this weekend, with the nation wondering if he is really ready for a World Cup, a long-range brace.
If there is a typical sort of Moukoko goal, it’s a strike that leaves you wondering just how he unleashed so much power out of nowhere, like Saturday’s opener, crashing in off the bar before goalkeeper Manuel Riemann could even react to it.
That one hit the net before you even really had time to realise what was happening. His second — a slow, looping chip over Riemann from 30-odd yards — was just as spectacular but, as a wonderful juxtaposition to the opener, gave you all the time in the world to realise and appreciate what you were watching as you waited for it to drop into the far corner of the goal.
Goals are not a problem, nor is Moukoko’s work-rate, but you can ask questions about his link-up play and decision making on the biggest stage of all.
Most wonderfully, though, both he and Füllkrug seem to appreciate the absurdity of their situations. Uncapped, in-form, and suddenly on the cusp of the Germany squad, they are not campaigning for inclusion. It would be a bonus.
“I’m not getting involved in little games like this,” Füllkrug laughed when asked by ZDF’s highlight show Sportstudio whether he would even recognise Flick’s number if the call came this week. “There are five more days and then everyone will know. Until them, I’m pretty relaxed.”
“Ultimately the coach will decide who goes,” Moukoko told the same programme. “Performances will determine that at the end of the day. If you deliver then maybe you’ll be included.”
And does he trust himself to deliver?
“Yes.”
Sky asked the same questions and received the same line from the Dortmund forward.
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll perform on the pitch and just go from game to game.
“I would really like to be there. Let’s wait for Thursday.”
The World Cup would just be a bonus for the two strikers, with zero combined international caps, Germany are now likely to turn to in Qatar. Timing is everything, they have nailed theirs, and now they will just wait and see how it plays out without putting pressure on themselves, or on Flick. That attitude will serve them well when others, like Havertz and Gnabry, lead the line from the off in Qatar, and it feels like a pretty healthy way for two potential match-winners to head into a tournament.