Nagelsmann shuns favourites tag as Germany navigate World Cup group

Brazil is the most successful football nation in the world with five World Cup titles, followed by Germany and Italy with four apiece and defending champions Argentina on three titles, but coming to this tournament, it’s teams like Spain and France who are seen as favourites, and Nagelsmann is not ready to enter that debate yet...

"I don't want to talk about who are the favourites or not. We have to concentrate on each game and try to do our best. The next topic now is Curacao and three points, and that will be very important for us to have a good start to the tournament. In the end the thing that counts the most is performance and not discussing who are the favourites or not."

German football has undergone significant reconstruction over the years. In the 1990’s, the German team of Jurgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthaus, and Rudi Voeller was known for their rigid style of play, but the modern sides with young coaches like Nagelsman have since transformed into more of a ball-playing team...

"It's all about defending as a team but also attacking as a team. We have a lot of pre-lim players because we want to be one of the best teams with the best connections between all the teammates and all the coaches. We always try to be active in all phases of the game."

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Weather temperatures will also be another key factor in Germany’s matches in the group stage of this tournament, starting in Houston today, New York and also in Toronto, Canada. 

Nagelsmann says they are adapting well to the conditions and have adopted ways to make things work.

Curacao, a small Dutch Caribbean island from South America, sandwiched between Venezuela and Aruba, find themselves in a difficult group that also contains the Ivory Coast and Ecuador. 

Some of the players in the team, have represented Netherlands at the junior international level. Nagelsman says they have had to do some very good analysis on the opposition to avoid any surprises...