DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago, Germany was on a run of awful results and seemed on course to struggle when it hosted Euro 2024. Now it's back among the top teams in Europe, with an eye on the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Germany will end 2024 with 10 victories from its 15 games. In 2023, it won just three and lost six. The only loss this year was in the most important game, though, against eventual Euro 2024 champion Spain in extra time in the quarterfinals on home soil.
It still rankles. Coach Julian Nagelsmann's instant reaction to a handball penalty that allowed Hungary to draw Tuesday's last Nations League group game 1-1 was to ask the referee if he'd seen Germany's loss to Spain, when a handball call wasn't given against Spain's Marc Cucurella, riling German players and fans . It’s been a big year for younger players like Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, the “Wusiala” combo expected to shine at the 2026 World Cup.
Wirtz scored six goals for Germany this year to be joint-top scorer with Arsenal's Kai Havertz and Musiala scored five. “At their young age, they're both world-class already,” Joachim Löw, who coached Germany’s World Cup-winning team in 2014, said Sunday on local broadcaster SWR. In 2021, Löw was the first coach to call up Musiala and Wirtz , then 18 and 17 years old respectively, to the national team, and he's impressed with how they've been crucial to Nagelsmann's pro.
