Filling jug for World Cup?
Debate about Werder strikers is getting louder
Created: 10/03/2022 13:16
Bremen's Niclas Füllkrug cheers after his goal to 0:2.
© Robert Michael/dpa
He is the top scorer in the Bundesliga.
He has little competition among German strikers.
The opinion that Niclas Füllkrug belongs in the national team is therefore growing stronger.
Bremen - Niclas Füllkrug for the World Cup - this is now a joint project at Werder Bremen.
"I will make it as difficult as possible for him in training so that he is well prepared for the World Cup," said his teammate Niklas Stark and laughed.
The defender once belonged to the national team under Joachim Löw.
Filling mug for the World Cup - that's almost seven weeks before the opening game in Qatar, but above all a discussion that's getting louder and louder, in which teammates, media, TV experts and Bremen fans have long since joined.
"Gap for Germany", echoed through the Wohninvest Weserstadion on Saturday evening after the 5-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
"Lücke" is the nickname of the 29-year-old striker, who scored twice again against Gladbach and is now the top scorer in the Bundesliga with seven goals after eight games.
But what is also driving the debate is the fact that the former centre-forward nation Germany has not released Gerd Müller, Rudi Völler, Jürgen Klinsmann or Miroslav Klose for years.
Timo Werner is in the national team, but which attacker should the national coach take with him to the World Cup?
Lukas Nmecha from VfL Wolfsburg seemed to be the most promising candidate for a long time, but he is currently injured and has not scored half as many goals as Füllkrug this season.
That's why the record national player Lothar Matthäus said on Sky at the weekend: "Hansi Flick is not blind.
He sees that too.”
Füllkrug himself behaves as cleverly as possible on this subject: he lets his goals and achievements speak for themselves.
"I'm relaxed there," he said in the ZDF sports studio when asked about a possible participation in the World Cup.
He can't influence that, because he doesn't decide that either.
Werder coach Ole Werner also said: "It's a good sign when a player is publicly associated with it.
It also speaks for the fact that he does not play in a completely blind team.
But others have to decide how to deal with it.”
The question of whether Füllkrug belongs in the national team came up four years ago.
Only the Bremen team is currently much more skilful than his ex-club Hannover 96 did at the time.
In 2018, 96 manager Horst Heldt brought the striker into the conversation - and that too unerringly at the beginning of the season in which Hannover was to end up being relegated without a sound.
But this episode also shows that in Füllkrug's career, one extreme has tended to replace the other.
In his first Bundesliga season as a regular player, he scored 14 goals in Hannover 2017/18 to stay up.
After that, Borussia Mönchengladbach wanted to pay up to 18 million euros for him.
But 96 boss Martin Kind refused, and Füllkrug stayed in his hometown - and in the following two years suffered cartilage damage and a cruciate ligament tear in his knee.
He was also relegated from the Bundesliga with Werder and exactly a year ago the coach at the time, Markus Anfang, would have liked to get rid of him.
But all these experiences have made the striker more mature, more focused and also more self-confident.
When dealing with his serious injuries, at some point he even ignored the doctor's recommendations and focused on muscle building instead of rest.
Success now proves him right.
“Achievements should be rewarded.
For me, he is currently the best German striker," said Marvin Ducksch, his congenial partner at Werder.
Now only the verdict of the national coach is missing.
dpa
