Germany has been working towards integrating newcomers to the national team in the past days as it looks for a fresh start ahead of the Euro 2024 on home soil, striker Niclas Fuellkrug said on Wednesday.
The Germans host Peru on Saturday before taking on Belgium on March 28 in their international friendly matches this month.
The Germans, who suffered their second consecutive group-stage World Cup exit in Qatar in December, are eager to lay the foundations this year for a successful tournament in Germany in 2024.
Flick has called up five newcomers with Brentford’s Kevin Schade, VfB Stuttgart’s Josha Vagnoman, Mergim Berisha of Augsburg, VfL Wolfsburg’s Felix Nmecha and Borussia Dortmund’s Marius Wolf while opting to leave veteran Thomas Mueller out.
“We are at a stage where we now need to develop as a team and I want to be part of it,” said Fuellkrug, who made his debut in November 2022, days before the World Cup in Qatar.
“In the first training sessions this week it was all about integrating the new players and to refresh our philosophy,” he added.
“The coaches analysed things well, they showed where the mistakes were (at the World Cup). We have discussed many things and hope to show them to you in the next two matches.”
Germany, four-time World Cup winner and three-time European champion, has crashed out early in its three most recent tournaments, including Euro 2020 in 2021 where it lost to England in the last 16.
As host in 2024, it does not need to qualify for the tournament but it wants to prepare a team in the next 15 months that can again become competitive on the international stage, starting with its friendly matches this month.
“We have to find our plays relatively quickly, get a starting 11. It is balancing act that we need to do. But I am confident we will make it,” Fuellkrug said. “We want to start well, we want to win.”
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