Germany vs. Belgium: Lineups, injuries, team news, & MORE!

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19 December 2023, 15:15 yayınlandı

Germany picked up a 2-0 win over Peru on Saturday, but now the challenge figures to be much more difficult against a stacked — but erratic and dysfunctional — Belgium side.

Here is what we know heading into the match:

Germany boss Hansi Flick said that Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry will start in place Chelsea FC Kai Havertz due to an illness. In addition, Nico Schlotterbeck picked up a knock against Peru, but it appears to have been nothing serious. Either way, the Borussia Dortmund man will get the day off as well. West Ham’s Thilo Keherer will start.
Flick hinted at a couple of other new additions to the starting XI, but did not give an idea on who that would be (we will do our best to guess!).
Finally, it does appear that Flick will be sticking to the 4-2-2-2, which could mean he is planning to pair up Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala (currently out) for the Euro 2024 competition in the attacking midfield, as many have speculated.

This is our best guess at how Flick will set up his squad to face the Red Devils:

We think we’ll see some consistency, but just about the only other change we can foresee if Leon Goretzka stepping in for Emre Can. Against a dangerous Belgium side, it would seem that Flick wants to set himself up best to win the battle in the midfield.
Timo Werner did not have a great match against Peru, but if Flick sticks with this system, I think he likes the idea of how Werner and Niclas Füllkrug can play off of each other.
Marius Wolf earned himself a longer look at right-back.
We’ll also get a chance to see if Florian Wirtz can improve off of a very spotty showing against Peru.

Some other options we could see:

Christian Günter for David Raum. I think Flick loves the idea of what Raum can be, but the left-back is going to have to start making some progress. If he doesn’t Günter might be a more stable option.
Maybe, Flick will opt for Mario Götze over Wirtz as well or maybe even for Werner. If that happens, we could see Gnabry get pushed up top with Füllkrug.

If you want more thoughts on the German national team and how they performed against Peru, check out our Flagship Show podcast:

Be sure to stay tuned to Bavarian Podcast Works for all of your up to date coverage on Bayern Munich and Germany. Follow us on Twitter @BavarianFBWorks, @TheBarrelBlog, @tommyadams71, @bfwinnn, and more.