A mix of suspension and injury is forcing Joachim Löw to shuffle his squad for Friday’s semi-final against France in Marseille.
While the host nation will be buoyed from their 5-2 victory over Iceland, Germany will look to its under-performing stars and untried youth to plug the gaps.
Die Mannschaft have been one of the standouts in Euro 2016 so far, but will have to make three confirmed changes from the team that beat Italy in the quarter-final. Injury will deprive Löw of selecting veteran Mario Gómez for the remainder of the tournament, while Sami Khedira could return from his strained groin in time for the Stade De France final on Sunday. Mats Hummels misses the do-or-die semi-final clash after he picked up another yellow card against the Azzurri. Bastian Schweinsteiger is not a certain miss and will play against France if he overcomes his troublesome knee, but the worst case scenario is assumed. In these players, Germany has lost a significant amount of international experience, and their absence depletes the muscular spine of the team.
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Changes will likely be made to the German formation as well as their starting XI, switching back to a 4-2-3-1 shape. Exciting youngster Joshua Kimmich was used to good effect as a left wing-back against a resolute Italy, and will likely drop into left-back to allow FC Schalke’s Benedikt Höwedes to play alongside Jerome Boateng in the heart of defence. Jonas Hector, who scored the winning penalty last round, will line up at right-back. The cover for the loss of Hummels will surprise many if they successfully suppress the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet, and Olivier Giroud. If they cannot, it is a good thing they have Manuel Neuer to come to the rescue.
The losses of Khedira and Schweinsteiger in the engine room will likely give untried players and opportunity to spread their wings in the semis. Liverpool’s Emre Can or 20-year-old Julian Weigl are the likely candidates to pair up alongside the in-form Toni Kroos. Can, a fan favourite at Anfield, provides a strong physical presence and his positional versatility could help when making changes during the match. Weigl excelled for Borrusia Dortmund this season, and is an attacking-minded replacement in the central-midfield with his incisive passing and vision. He set Bundesliga records in 2015-16 for the most passes completed, and the most touches in a single game, coming over separate outings. He has shown to struggle when partnered in defensive-midfield though, and is expected to be overlooked in favour of Can as the risk to trial youth in the semi-finals of a major tournament is too high.
Gómez has been inspirational since called upon at Euro 2016, spearheading the attack for Germany when nobody else could. The predicted solution to his loss is to play Thomas Müller as a striker and then find personnel to play along the left and right of Mesut Özil in attacking-midfield. VfL Wolfsburg’s Julian Draxler, who was impressive in the comfortable win over Slovakia, is the safest choice on the left wing. On the opposite wing, Mario Götze will fill the void left by the shift of Müller. The 24-year-old scored the winner in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but has since then fallen from grace, and has disappointed when given his chance in this competition. Both Draxler and Götze are expected to start the must-win clash, with winger Leroy Sané too inexperienced for the task, and Kimmich dropping to the defence.
The loss of key members presents an intriguing test for Germany when selecting their team for their semi-final. Die Mannschaft will have to dig deep if they are to overcome a red-hot France, especially following the 120+ minutes of draining play against Italy, the growing injury list, and the risk of future suspension if Kimmich, Boateng, or Schweinsteiger each receive a yellow against Les Bleus.
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