Today's Talking Points
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1Germany were knocked out in the group stage in both 2018 and 2022. For the nation that reached four finals between 2002 and 2014, this is considered a genuine collapse — the German equivalent of a national crisis. This tournament is their attempt to prove they've fixed it.
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2Their squad is built around Florian Wirtz, 22, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen and is considered one of the best players in Europe right now. If Germany do well, he'll be the name everyone's talking about. If they go out in the group stage again, he'll be the answer to a pub quiz question.
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3Germany are in Group E with Curaçao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador. They should get through. Getting knocked out again would trigger a full-scale national football inquest and probably some excellent documentary-making about What Went Wrong.
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4The manager Julian Nagelsmann is 38, making him one of the youngest at the tournament. He's been quietly rebuilding Germany's approach after years of cautious, results-first football. Whether it's worked is the question June will answer.
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5They hosted Euro 2024 and reached the quarter-finals before losing to Spain — which felt like genuine progress compared to the previous two World Cups. This is either a rebuild or a blip, and nobody quite knows which yet.
🍺 Top Thing To Say Down The Pub
Germany got knocked out in the group stage in 2018 and 2022. They are absolutely desperate not to make it three. That desperation is either motivating or terrifying depending on how the first game goes.
🚫 Avoid Saying
"Germany always perform at tournaments" — they literally didn't at the last two World Cups. The evidence is fairly clear at this point.