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Anton Stach in the Mainz jersey: new to the national team
Photo:
IMAGO/Frey-Pressebild/Yours / IMAGO/Thomas Frey
DFB national coach Hansi Flick has announced his squad for the upcoming international football matches and caused a few surprises.
Flick called up Anton Stach from Mainz 05 for the national team for the first time.
Flick is also bringing Julian Draxler and Julian Weigl back.
This month, the DFB team is playing its first international matches since November, thus starting the World Cup year.
In two friendlies, they meet Israel in Sinsheim on March 26 and the Netherlands in Amsterdam three days later.
Stach plays in defensive midfield at Mainz.
The 23-year-old is playing in the Bundesliga for the first time this season.
In the summer he moved from Greuther Fürth to Mainz.
Stach scored one goal and six assists in 24 league and DFB-Pokal games.
Draxler has been in the DFB squad for the first time since October 2020, when the national coach was still called Joachim Löw.
The midfielder from Paris Saint-Germain was part of the national team for years before he lost his place in the run-up to the 2021 European Championship and did not regain it in the first few games under Flick.
The 28-year-old has made 23 appearances at PSG this season, but only once for 90 minutes.
He got two goals and two assists.
The competition in Paris is enormous, Draxler is struggling with Lionel Messi, Neymar and Ángel di María for playing times there.
Weigl's last DFB assignment was five years ago
The return of Weigl comes as an even bigger surprise than the Draxlers.
Like Stach, Weigl plays in defensive midfield.
He played five international matches between May 2016 and March 2017, when Weigl drew attention to himself with strong performances at Borussia Dortmund.
He is now under contract with Lisbon club Benfica and is a regular there.
Benfica recently reached the quarter-finals in the Champions League, and Weigl played full time in the two round of 16 games against Ajax Amsterdam.
The duel with Israel will be Flick's eighth game as national coach.
He has won every game so far.
The team has already qualified for the World Cup in Qatar, which begins in November.
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