Germany’s experiment phase is finished. Jürgen Klopp has confirmed the squad for the November international window will be slashed to a conventional 23 or 24 players, closing the door on the 44-man audition that framed his opening two camps in charge of the national team.
The German football association called up 44 players in total across September and October, divided into separate squads for four Nations League fixtures. The pool produced a 1-1 draw away to the Netherlands on 24 September, a 1-0 home loss to Greece in Augsburg three days later that was Germany’s first-ever defeat by the Greeks, a 2-0 win over Serbia in Munich on 1 October for Klopp’s first victory as head coach, and a 0-0 draw back against Greece in Thessaloniki three days after that.
Klopp’s overall take after the Thessaloniki stalemate leaned on talent, not the scorelines.
“Plenty is missing, but certainly not talent,” he said, according to Yahoo Sports. He added that he had been “very, very, very impressed” by the team and the way they had played the first half in Greece.
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The practical consequence lands next month.
“Of course, we won’t be going there with 44 players. The door is open to everyone. If someone is not called up, they know it’s not because they’re not good enough, but because we have to stop at 23-24 players,” Klopp said after the Thessaloniki draw, as quoted by Yahoo Sports.
Völler draws the line
Sporting director Rudi Völler had prepared the ground before the second Greece match. In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, reported by Goal, he said the mass call-up was never going to be the standing model.
“November is when it counts, then we will see Jürgen’s condensed squad. There won’t be 44 players invited anymore,” Völler said.
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The 44-player operation had been pitched as a one-off audition built around the September and October fixtures, intended to give the new coaching staff a close-up look at the available player pool before locking in a core group. Angelo Stiller, Deniz Undav, Maximilian Beier and Leroy Sané were among those left out this time but kept in contention for the November list, Völler told Bild am Sonntag.
Germany travel to Serbia on 13 November and host the Netherlands three days later in the next Nations League double-header. Klopp has roughly five weeks to settle on the 23 or 24 names who make the cut.
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