Now it's official. The 23 players who will travel to the World Cup for Germany are confirmed - and with that, so are those who won't be going to the tournament in Russia. The 1:2 defeat in the last warm-up match against Austria was good for one thing above all: it showed that Manuel Neuer is fit and in good form. After the doctors also gave the green light for his nomination, Neuer will travel as number one to a World Cup for the third time. Marc-André ter Stegen from FC Barcelona and Kevin Trapp from Paris St. Germain are also included as additional goalkeepers. Bernd Leno was thus cut from the squad.
In defense, Jonathan Tah is affected, a teammate of Leno at Bayer Leverkusen: that was somehow foreseeable. Tah was nominated as a backup in case Jerome Boateng's adductor injury turned out to be worse. Now Boateng signals full readiness for the World Cup, as does Mats Hummels - with Antonio Rüdiger and Niklas Süle, only two backup players are needed for central defense. Unlike Matthias Ginter - who could certainly be counted among the candidates for being cut - Tah can hardly be deployed on the wing, so Jogi Löw decides for more versatility in defense and thus for Ginter.
The decisions in the offensive department were most surprising: Leroy Sané from Manchester City stays home just like Nils Petersen from FC Freiburg. While Sané has flourished at Manchester and developed into a real star, he has never been able to shine for the national team - most recently against Austria he fell short of expectations. So Jogi Löw preferred Julian Brandt instead, where you can probably better estimate what to expect and ultimately also get.
That Nils Petersen was even nominated at all was already a surprise. Many would have liked to see the Freiburg player travel to Russia. For him, however, the nomination was probably so surprising that he couldn't adjust to the level of the national team anymore. With Timo Werner and Mario Gomez, Jogi Löw is thus relying on two different striker types, with Werner likely to be more of a starter, while Gomez should see playing time when brute force in the penalty area is needed.
On June 8, the national team plays the last test before the World Cup - then it's against Saudi Arabia. On June 12, the team then travels to Russia and plays its first match at the 2018 World Cup in Russia on June 17 against Mexico. The following players are in the squad:
In goal: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Marc-André ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Kevin Trapp (Paris St. Germain)
Defense: Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Joshua Kimmich, Niklas Süle (all FC Bayern), Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Jonas Hector (1. FC Cologne), Marvin Plattenhardt (Hertha BSC Berlin), Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea)
Offensive: Thomas Müller, Sebastian Rudy (both FC Bayern), Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Timo Werner (RB Leipzig), Julian Draxler (Paris St. Germain), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City), Sami Khedira (Juventus Turin), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) and Mesut Özil (FC Arsenal)