Germany World Cup 2026 team guide

This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. The plan Predicting Germany’s tactics is not entirely straightforward because Julian Nagelsmann likes to change his lineup and system. The result was five mediocre to poor performances in the qualifiers, including a 2-0 defeat in Slovakia that could easily have been heavier. But they were convincing in the return fixture, sweeping their opponents aside 6-0, and won their group convincingly. Nagelsmann will probably base his team from that match in Leipzig and will demand passion from his players. “We have to play with emotion,” says Nagelsmann, who is regarded as a tactical obsessive and is often seen shouting and raging in the technical area. The team’s traditional recipe for success has been to adopt the things that work well at Bayern Munich and in 1974 and 2014 that led to World Cup triumphs. The chances of a repeat initially appear favourable: this season has gone exceptionally well for Germany’s only world-class club. …