Gearing Up for the Nations League: Germany vs Portugal
Prepared for Fresh Turf in Munich: DFB Squad Gears Up
Herzogenaurach - The German national football team, under the guidance of coach Julian Nagelsmann, held their final training session on a pristine pitch at their quarters in Herzogenaurach. On Wednesday evening (21:00 CET, ZDF and DAZN), the German squad faces Portugal in Munich in the opening match of the Nations League final tournament, aiming to advance to the final. Nagelsmann, just like his players, hopes the Allianz Arena pitch will also be top-notch.
Following the Champions League final mayhem, where Paris Saint-Germain fans infiltrated the pitch, causing significant damage, urgent repairs are necessary to prep the stadium for the upcoming Nations League showdown[1][2]. The turf will undergo partial replacement, with several square meters of the hybrid grass getting swapped out.
"This is routine work for us - there's no risk whatsoever to the proceedings of the game," stated Jürgen Muth, CEO of Allianz Arena Munich Stadium GmbH, to the Münchner Merkur and tz newspaper group.
readying for Battle
With the final training session on the impeccable Adidas pitch in Franconia, Nagelsmann wraps up the active preparations for the semi-final against Portugal, the seventh-ranked team in the world. Anticipating at least six changes in the starting lineup compared to the return quarter-final match against Italy in March, primarily due to injury-related absences, Nagelsmann is expected to take the helm once more[1].
For certain, Marc-André ter Stegen will be back between the German goalposts following his extensive knee injury, as Nagelsmann announced earlier. Upfront, with several prominent absences, Nick Woltemade, a rising star from Stuttgart, is poised to make his international debut, having been in superb form for his club recently.
"Of course, he stands a chance, otherwise he wouldn't be here," Nagelsmann mentioned at the outset of the preparations regarding the prospect of Woltemade grabbing a starting spot. Captain Joshua Kimmich is set to play his 100th international match[1].
The German squad, under the guidance of coach Julian Nagelsmann, fine-tunes their strategies for the upcoming Nations League battle against Portugal, a key European-leagues clash. Despite several incurred injuries, the team is determined to showcase their prowess on the repaired Allianz Arena pitch, hoping to capitalize on the debut of rising talent Nick Woltemade and the historic milestone of Captain Joshua Kimmich's 100th international match.
