National team
Best injured: No international debut for Heidenheimer
Jan-Niklas Beste (l) still has to wait for his first appearance in the DFB jersey. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
A national player from Heidenheim. This charming football story will not exist for the time being. Jan-Niklas Beste has to leave the DFB hotel on Thursday as feared by the national coach.
As the German Football Association announced, the 25-year-old from Bundesliga promoted team 1. FC Heidenheim left the team hotel near Frankfurt/Main. Nagelsmann had already reported on the injury in a fan message on Wednesday evening and feared a loss for the games on Saturday (9 p.m./ZDF) in Lyon against France and three days later in Frankfurt against the Netherlands.
Beste was one of the original six newcomers that Nagelsmann had called up to his squad and the first professional from Heidenheim to train with the A team. Before him, Aleksandar Pavlovic from FC Bayern Munich had to miss the game due to tonsillitis. This means that the national coach only has the three Stuttgart players Maximilian Mittelstädt, Deniz Undav and Waldemar Anton as well as Maximilian Beier from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as debutants in his squad. Beier’s club colleague Oliver Baumann has not yet played a senior international match, but has been in the DFB squad several times.
Since goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who was scheduled to be number one, is also out due to a torn muscle fiber, the squad has been reduced to the European Championship size of 20 field players and three goalkeepers. Nagelsmann will continue his preparation on Thursday with the next training session on the DFB campus in Frankfurt. On Friday, the national team will fly to Lyon for a showdown with the runner-up world champion and superstar Kylian Mbappé.