NEWS: Germany's No.1

Paul Schmidt-Trochke with the remarkable news that Manuel Neuer has returned to the role of Germany's No.1. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Hello and welcome to World Cup etc. with me, Paul Petroschke. German football is currently shaking after some massive news. Manuel Neuer is coming out of retirement to return to the German national team. The 40-year-old legend retired from international duty after the Euro 2024, in which Germany got kicked out by Spain in the quarterfinals. Now he is set to step back into the spotlight just in time for the 2026 World Cup. And to add to the excitement, Neuer also just signed a contract extension with Bayern Munich. He will keep playing for his club until 2027. While the news is exciting for fans of the German national team, it has created a massive communication disaster. National team coach Julian Nagelsmann is facing heavy public criticism from German football icons like Oliver Kahn and Jens Lehmann, but also from almost every single German national team fan. Over the last several months, Nagelsmann repeatedly assured Oliver Baumann, who is the goalkeeper of TSG Hoffenheim and the Bundesliga, that he was Germany's official number one goalkeeper. He even reiterated his trust to Baumann recently, and Baumann spoke confidently about starting in the World Cup. But suddenly the plan changed completely. And now Neuer is expected to step straight back into the starting lineup as the number one. And I am not the only one calling this a major breach of trust. Because Nagelsmann broke his promise to Baumann and created massive confusion right before the tournament begins. On top of that, Neuer is currently dealing with calf muscle problems, and if he is not fit, the plan could fall apart completely. And if we know one thing about a team being successful in a big competition, is that peace in the locker room is one of the most important factors. Now the situation has turned Germany's goalkeeping hierarchy completely upside down. For years the ranking seemed clear, but recent events have changed everything. Historically, Germany has always had the luxury of possessing the best goalkeepers in the world. And Manuel Neuer, in this case, in my opinion, is one of the, if not the best, goalkeeper the world has ever seen. For an entire decade, Manuel Neuer, of course, playing for Bayern Munich, and Mark Andre Testegen almost playing 300 games for Barcelona dominate the conversation in Germany. Testegen waited years in Neues Shadow for his turn to be the permanent number one. And please imagine for a moment that you are Marc-André Testegen playing at Barcelona at Europe's top for years and years and years. But you're still not able to become the number one in your national team because there's Manuel Neuer. But for Testegen not becoming Germany's number one, Manuel Neuer was not the only reason, because terrible timing of injuries ruined Testegen's dream as well. With him currently dealing with another injury setback on loan at Girona in Spain, Baumann stepped up and earned the spot. Now Baumann has been pushed aside at the last second. Behind him, younger keepers like Alexander Nubel and Noah Atubolu are waiting for the chance to break through. Julian Nagelsmann will officially announce his World Cup squad on May 21st, and fans are waiting eagerly to see how he explained this sudden U-turn. Manuel Neuer is undeniably a legend, but his sudden return has disrupted the peace in the locker room. The pressure is higher than ever. If Germany fails at the World Cup, everyone will point back to this communication disaster as the moment things went wrong. And now I am pleased to have journalist and fellow co-host John Monfilio with me. John, what are you making of this whole Manuel Neuer Julia Nagelsmann situation?

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Well, it's the story of the day, right, Paul? Manuel Neuer returning to the German side. My understanding is that several unnamed key players in the national team, the German national team, urged head coach Julia Nagelsmann to recall Neuer for the World Cup, with his Bayern Munich teammates particularly key and the central to the conversations. It seems that his um strong showings in what was a very deep, of course, run for Bayern Munich in the Champions League have proved critical. And Nagelsmann, of course, is looking not just for a solid goalkeeper, but also a totem, something to an individual to build the team around, to spur the team on. And Neuer is certainly that. Nevertheless, he is 40 years old and it has to be classed as something of a gamble. On the one hand, the experience he brings is invaluable, having been to remarkable four World Cups, but it also suggests that Nagelsmann feels that there is something missing from his squad and much more from his first 11. Because what we're looking at is Neuer returning as first choice keeper. What strikes me is what strikes me above all is that this is a very, very un-German decision.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Yes, indeed, a very un-German decision, John. But I think it is very important to differentiate here. The decision itself is loved by fans because Manuel Neuer, if he's fit, is undeniably still the best goalkeeper Germany can come up with. And the other side of the story is the way how everything was communicated. And on top of that, this is not the first communication disaster created by Nagelsmann only in the last uh several weeks, because there is uh the German forward Dennis Undorf, who has the best stats in the Bundesliga this year, and he's not considered to be a fixed player in the German national team, which uh yeah, as I said, created a lot of uh not only confusion um but also the disbelief towards uh towards Juan Nagelsmann and definitely did not help him in building trust with the other 84 million Bundestrainer, as we say in Germany, so the 84 million um national team coaches which uh which turn up when uh when every two years a big event is happening, either the Euros or the World Cup. And lastly, I want to speak about the issue which you brought up, why Julian Nagelsmann uh nominated Neuer on the last second here. It seems that especially Bayern Munich players lobbied him to bring Neuer back to the team. And actually, I think on the one hand, you have to give some credit to Julian Nagelsmann here, because he is known to have not the best personal relationship with Manuel Neuer. Of course, Nagelsmann himself coached Bayern as well already, and there they um they had a fallout over a particular issue, allegedly at least. So he jumped over his uh over his shadow to nominate him, but on the other hand, of course, this shows that he is not uh really in control of the team because you have groups of players which uh heavily influence the the the Bundestrainers uh the national team coach's decision here. Uh yeah, which uh again is not really instilling trust in his decision making. But we will see if uh if this will be the the the right decision in the end. Uh, in my opinion, it will be definitely. Um, everybody's happy to see Manuel Noya play. I think this time we can say for sure for a last time in a in a World Cup at least, maybe he'll be back for the Euros. But I really don't think so, and I wish him uh a very uh enjoyable and calm retirement, and also uh not a heavy injury with uh which he then forcibly must uh must end his career with. So that's it from us for today.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

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SPEAKER_02 8:54

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SPEAKER_00 9:01

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