New Delhi: As the UEFA Euro 2024 group stages head towards the knockout stages, the fate of all the teams competing is starting to get a bit clearer with two groups having completed all their group stage matches. Group A was won by Germany after a last-minute equaliser by Niclas Fullkrug earned them a point against Switzerland who qualified as the runners-up whereas another last-minute equaliser against Croatia meant that Italy qualified from Group B as runners-up with Spain topping their group.
Hosts Germany opened their account with a resounding 5-1 win over Scotland, followed that up with a comfortable 2-0 over Hungary before being rescued by a Niclas Fullkrug header in stoppage time against Switzerland to ensure they qualified as group winners.
Germany will now face the runners-up of Group C in their round of 16 fixture meaning they can face any of the teams in Group C as all can finish as runners-up currently. With that in mind, manager Julien Nagelsmann needs to address the biggest selection headache that presents itself to him, whether to start Kai Havertz or Niclas Fullkrug in the knockout stages. And given the performances that the current Borussia Dortmund man is putting in, Nagelsmann should show his faith in Niclas Fullkrug
Germany’s Well-documented Striking Woes Since Miroslav Klose
Germany have struggled to replace Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski ever since they retired from international football. (Photo credit should read JOCHEN LUEBKE/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)
The German national team has been synonymous with producing world-class strikers over the years. Several lethal forwards have donned the white and black jersey for Die Mannschaft and have gone on to give the fans moments to cherish as they won four FIFA World Cups and three UEFA European Championships in their history.
We have seen the likes of the legendary Gerd Muller, former Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, 1990 World Cup winner Rudi Voeller, and the 2014 World Cup-winning duo of Lukas Podolski and the country’s all-time leading goalscorer Miroslav Klose all represent Die Mannschaft with a tremendous amount of success. However, ever since Klose’s retirement in 2014, Germany have failed to produce a striker that can carry on the legacy.
Since winning the World Cup in 2014, the German national team had been in decline and it wasn’t till this year’s UEFA European Championships that they started looking like a threat again. It is no coincidence that the team’s worst years coincided with the time when they didn’t have quality strikers in their set-up. A well past his prime Mario Gomez was the only striker for both UEFA Euro 2016 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Players like Timo Werner and Karim Adeyami were all considered to be the next big strikers for the Germans but both have since lost the early promise they showed and now predominantly play as wingers. Yousouffa Moukoko was a young prodigy everyone had high hopes for, but he has yet to prove himself at the club and international level consistently. Germany seemed to be running out of options before Kai Havertz was turned into a centre-forward who could play as a false nine and the late-bloomer Niclas Fullkrug made himself known.
Why should Niclas Fullkrug start over Kai Havertz?
Niclas Füllkrug is the joint top scorer of the tournament till now (Photo by Stefan Matzke – sampics/Getty Images)
Coming to the big dilemma in front of Nagelsmann, who should he start between Fullkrug and Havertz? The Arsenal forward has started all the games for Die Mannschaft in the group stages and has been the undisputed starting striker for Germany off-late. Havertz has put in decent performances for the Germans as his off-the-ball move movement, technical abilities fit in well in the current system as he provides balance to the team and his superior technical skills help Germany’s wunderkind duo of Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz.
However, Havertz doesn’t provide a goal-scoring threat nearly consistent enough as is expected from a striker. He has only scored once in the tournament having started all games and that too came from the penalty spot. Fullkrug, on the other hand, provides a major threat whenever he is on the field and is already the joint-top scorer in UEFA Euro 2024 with two goals in three games, doing so in just the 73 minutes he has played.
He is coming off the back of a good debut season with Borussia Dortmund where he contributed to 20 goals in just 29 games for BVB in the Bundesliga. He had a great scoring record for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga as he scored 26 goals in 55 appearances in the three Bundesliga campaigns he had with them where they finished 16th, 17th and 13th. The 31-year-old has spent his entire club career playing in Germany so is more familiar with the German venues and conditions, unlike Havertz who has been playing in England since 2020.
Adding to that, his goalscoring record for Die Mannschaft has been phenomenal as he’s scored 13 goals and assisted a further two in just 19 appearances, only six out of which were starts. He averages a goal every 58 minutes for the national team whereas Havertz averages a goal every 182 minutes. Havertz’s record for the German team is great as well as the Arsenal forward has scored 17 and assisted 15 in 49 games but when it comes to having a prolific goal-scorer up front, Fullkrug is more suited for the job currently.
Having a prolific, natural, and old-school number 9 start for Die Manschaft could be more suited for Julien Nagelsmann’s side as his team now starts their run towards the business end of the competition and the goal-scoring abilities of Fullkrug might be the key to ending his country’s 10-year long trophy drought.
As Germany head into the knockout stages of the competition, the big selection headache for manager Julien Nagelsmann is who to start up-front, current starter Kai Havertz or the late bloomer Niclas Fullkrug? Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
