The German national team’s journey to North America to face the US men’s national team in East Hartford, Connecticut on Saturday, followed by another friendly in Philadelphia vs. Mexico on Tuesday, has not been particularly well received in some quarters of the nation’s footballing community.
Mannschaft legend Lothar Matthäus deemed the trip “questionable,” asking, “what do we want in the US at this point?” with a European Championship on home soil in less than a year. Germany and Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka has called it “not optimal” and “extremely unfortunate,” while his colleague Niklas Süle said it was “not a very good choice” considering the amount of travel in the midst of their club seasons.
Even new Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann, who will make his international debut on Saturday, said it was “normal to be critical of the tour” and conceded that “I would probably have the same opinion if I was still at [Bayern],” while Borussia Dortmund are reportedly splashing six figures on a private jet to speed four of their national-team players back in ample time to prepare for Friday’s Bundesliga fixture vs. Werder Bremen.
The volume of German discourse around two eight-hour flights in 10 days may be amusing for USMNTers and other European-based internationals on this continent who fly back and forth across the Atlantic constantly. But nattering negativity aside, Saturday’s clash at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field (3 pm ET) is an extremely valuable opportunity for both sides given their ambitions for success at the North America 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Measuring stick
“As we sketch out what our three-year pathway looks like, we want to challenge ourselves and give ourselves as many opportunities to play as many world-class opponents as we can,” USMNT assistant coach BJ Callaghan told reporters this week.
“It's clear with the players that Germany has on their roster, the type of team that Germany is, that they fall right into that bucket. So we value and view them as a high-level, world-class opponent that we're going to look forward to challenging ourselves against.”
Conversely, the four-time world champions will have scant few windows in the years ahead in which to give their players and staff a taste of how things look and feel on this continent, hence their scheduling of this tour, as they explained in a detailed missive to fans this week. Nagelsmann & Co. have set up camp at the training facility of the New England Revolution and their sibling NFL side the Patriots in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and will return the favor when the Pats cross the pond to play the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt next month.
The Germans also need positive performances and results on this trip as they look to right the ship in the wake of a fairly disastrous 12 months, dating back to their disappointing group-stage exit at last year’s World Cup in Qatar. The continuation of that swoon into 2023 led to the firing of manager Hansi Flick – the first person in his position to be sacked in the century-long history of the program.
And with ample ties between the German and US national teams – nine members of the current USMNT roster play or once played in the Bundesliga – familiarity may ramp up the intensity of this friendly that much further.
“We always compared ourselves in terms of, we wanted to compete with the top-level countries around the world,” said USMNT midfield leader Weston McKennie, who noted Goretzka was “like a big brother” to him when he broke through as a young phenom at Schalke 04 and plans to “say some bad words to him in German, just to refresh my memory” when they face off on Saturday.
“For the next four years leading up to the World Cup – I think, for us, we want to show that to win games against these top-level teams, that we expect ourselves to win these games now, instead of just competing with them. So I think it's a great opportunity to kind of see where we're at, and try and make that come true, and win these types of games. Because those are the types of games that we have to win to advance the program.”
Fielding questions from reporters in a Friday press conference, head coach Gregg Berhalter called on his side to not just win this match, but to do so while staying true to the progressive tactical principles he’s been working to install since taking the helm in December 2018.
“How do we keep learning? How do we keep taking every experience we have and moving forward with it?” he pondered. “Because eventually we're going to have to learn how to beat the top teams. That's going to have to happen if we're going to be successful at the World Cup.
“Any opportunity we get to play teams like this, we want to do it. And it's not about being afraid of the result, being afraid of competing, it's about embracing these moments. And from now until the 2026 World Cup, if we could play Germany five times, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, we would do it. Because that's what's going to really strengthen this group.”
Reyna returns
Berhalter revealed most of his starting XI ahead of time last month vs. Uzbekistan, his first game back in charge after more than half a year away from the team during U.S. Soccer’s investigation of the scandal that erupted around him and Gio Reyna’s family after the World Cup.
He was a great deal more tight-lipped on Friday, underlining the higher stakes this time around, though Berhalter did sound likely to utilize Reyna at some point now that the Dortmund star is fully healthy and the two have met and taken steps towards reconciliation. How Reyna and talented striker Folarin Balogun are deployed in the attack will be one of the most intriguing plotlines against Germany.
“I know that's going to be on people's minds. What I'd say is that we're moving forward. I don’t really want to talk too much about the past. I think it's about talking about the future,” said Berhalter.
“And Gio has done a great job this week in training – he looks really sharp, really strong. You can see his quality. And for us, it's about, how do we build him up, same way we have other players in the squad, to get the most out of him, for him to help the team the most, and for him to return to Dortmund in really good shape to keep pushing forward.”
