Kimmich's 100th game: Germany on a title course against Portugal!

Kimmich's 100th game: Germany on a title course against Portugal!

DFB coach Julian Nagelsmann heads the semi-finals of the Nations League in June 4, 2025, where Germany plays against Portugal in Munich. The kick -off is at 8:15 p.m. In another game, Spain will compete against France in Stuttgart on Thursday. The focus is particularly on the captain of the German team, Joshua Kimmich, who plays his 100th international. The player expressed that the national team has the chance to win a small title and reflected on the past few years, which he described as negative, especially after the 2018 World Cup.

The win of the Confed Cup 2017 remains the only success in Kimmich's career. Now he sees the Nations League as an important building block for the upcoming World Cup 2026. Nagelsmann confirms this approach and at the same time describes the Nations League as a kind of revenge against Spain. He emphasizes how important self-confidence and learning from encounters against top teams are.

squad changes and preparation

The German team has to do without some key players for today's game. Antonio Rüdiger, Jamal Musiala and Tim Kleindienst fail, so Nagelsmann has to set up a new starting eleven. Florian Wirtz and goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen are again in the squad. The team qualified in the run-up to the semi-final as the group winner of the Nation League Group A3 and showed impressive achievements through a 7-0 victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Overall, only one defeat was suffered in 2024-a 1: 2 after extra time in the EM quarter-finals against Spain.

Kimmich, who has to pause tomorrow, as it makes an ankle injury necessary, already has the next big goal in view: The World Cup 2026. The national coach plans to change the starting eleven for the upcoming game against Hungary on November 21, 2024, with Benjamin Henrichs, who is expected to move into the first eleven.

timetable for World Cup 2026

The German national team has a clear timetable to be successful in the run -up to the 2026 World Cup, which will take place from June 11th to July 19, 2026. A total of 18 games are up to the World Cup, including test games, Nations League and World Cup qualification games. Nagelsmann underlines the need to work with the clubs to further develop the team. The last world champions from 2014, including Manuel Neuer, Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller, have now ended their careers in the DFB dress, and Captain Ilkay Gündogan is no longer part of the team. This marks the beginning of a new era for the German national team.

The next games are crucial. The timetable stipulates that the World Cup qualifier is drawn in December 2024, followed by important games in the first half of 2025. The aim is to win the fifth title of DFB history at the 2026 World Cup.

nations League and current table

The current team rating in the Nations League shows Germany in first place with 4 points and a goal difference of +5. The other positions are:

The path to the 2026 World Cup requires a well -coordinated team performance, and the upcoming games will show whether Germany can meet these requirements. While the national team is preparing for today's challenge against Portugal, the mood remains optimistic.

Krone reports that Kimmich and the team look forward to the upcoming challenge. Heidelberg24 emphasizes the previous successes and challenges of the DFB-Elf, while 90min The strategic planning for the 2026 World Cup