Germany vs Hungary | Highlights | UEFA Nations League | 8th September 2024
Germany vs Hungary | Highlights | UEFA Nations League | 8th September 2024
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00:002024 Euro was not just a historic tournament because Europe's nations played for the prestigious
00:05Henri Delaney Trophy for the first time in a unified Germany, but it also marked the
00:09end of an era for the national team.
00:12For Stalwarts Ilkay Gundogan, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos have now retired
00:17from international football, meaning Germany will look very different when they face Hungary
00:21in Saturday's Nations League opener, 1945 British summer time.
00:26The quartet have made a combined 451 appearances over the past decade and era including Die
00:31Mannschaft's World Cup win in 2014.
00:35But success has been sparse in recent times, with Germany failing to progress past the
00:39group stages twice in the last four major tournaments and losing to Spain in the Euro
00:432024 quarter-finals.
00:46After a miserable few years, Julian Nagelsmann's side showed glimpses of recovery in the summer
00:50but, with the old guard hanging up their boots, can his Nula team return to the top of the
00:54world game?
00:56Kroos and Gundogan served as key figures in Nagelsmann's midfield at the Euros, while
01:00Neuer kept his spot as starting goalkeeper.
01:04Although Kroos was 34 when the tournament started, he was Germany's midfield anchor
01:08and playmaker.
01:09The retirement of the six-time Champions League winner will create a hole that might be hard
01:14to fill.
01:15All four players were major leaders within the team, regardless of potentially slowing
01:19with age.
01:21It speaks for itself that Manchester City jumped at the opportunity to bring Gundogan
01:25back after his sudden departure from Barcelona last month.
01:29With Kroos, Muller and Neuer, the last members of the 2014 World Cup winning squad have exited
01:34the international stage, and Nagelsmann is tasked with not only building a new core on
01:38the field but also inside his dressing room.
01:41While Jamal Muziala and Florian Wurz are the next generation of outstanding attacking talents,
01:46they are by no means at a point where they will be fierce leaders any time soon.
01:51Right now, these two, just like Kai Havertz or Maximilian Bayer, impress first and foremost
01:56through their footballing abilities.
01:58Germany's Toni Kroos waves
02:01Image source – Getty Images
02:04Image caption – Toni Kroos retired after Euro 2024
02:09Joshua Kimmich has been chosen as the new captain, succeeding Gundogan and Neuer.
02:14While Kimmich has the makings of a leader, his promotion comes at a time when he almost
02:18seems past his peak.
02:20For the past two years he has struggled at Bayern Munich and with Germany, and coaches
02:24were trying to figure out if they would rather use him as a central midfielder or right-back.
02:29Bayern manager Vincent Kompany utilised Kimmich as a midfielder in the first two games of
02:34the Bundesliga season, but Nagelsmann could see more value in his being part of his backline.
02:39It is a difficult situation for a player to switch between positions constantly.
02:44Kimmich is known as an energetic, even overly eager, personality who does not take setbacks
02:49and losses lightly.
02:51In that sense, he might almost be a counterweight to younger players who seem like free spirits
02:55and enjoy expressing themselves on the pitch.