Please, try again later
It’s something of a tumultuous time for the Germany national team right now. After their dreadful showing in the World Cup, they have only won two of their six matches since then and finished bottom of their UEFA Nations League group behind the Netherlands and France.
This has forced Joachim Low to have a good look at his squad, and he’s made the controversial decision to axe the experienced trio of Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, and Thomas Muller. The decision has been accompanied by hearty amounts of backlash, but it’s clear that Low is now focusing on the future generation.
You can certainly see that in his squad selection for these games too. Manuel Neuer is the only player selected who is over the age of 30, and 15 of their 20 outfield players are aged 25 or younger. This includes three uncapped players in Lukas Klostermann, Niklas Stark, and Maximilian Eggestein, while 23 year old Timo Werner is the only out and out striker selected.
Serbia have gone for a more traditional mixture of experience and youth, but nevertheless it harbours some big names in the squad. Aleksandar Mitrovic is expected to take the strikers berth on Wednesday, operating in front of a big name midfield including the in form Dusan Tadic, Manchester United’s Nemanja Matic, and the hot prospect of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
It’s proven to be quite a promising time for Serbia recently too. They may have been out of the World Cup by the end of the group stages, but since then they have won four and drawn two of their six matches. Of course, none of their opponents during this period were on the same level as Germany.
What we can expect from the visitors is a good level of attacking play. Tadic is in great form at Ajax at the moment, while Mitrovic has an impressive record of 23 goals in 46 appearances for the national team. They have scored 11 goals in the six games since the World Cup and have only failed to find the net once.
Germany, meanwhile, have conceded in 12 of their last 14 matches and have shipped eight goals in their six games since their World Cup humiliation. Backing Both Teams to Score on Wednesday looks a very promising move.
Germany heads to the game with the bold decision by head coach Joachim Loew to drop a number of old guard as he looks to give the team a fresh face following a number of unconvincing performances in the past few months. Matts Hummels, Jerome Boateng and Thomas Muller have all been told their time at the team is over while a number of youngsters are set to get their debuts. Germany were relegated in the UEFA Nations League in a group that had France and Netherlands and four wins in the last 15 matches say all about their decline over the past few years. Meanwhile, they meet a Serbia team unbeaten in eight of their last 10 matches. Serbia have also not lost a game in their last six outings; their last loss came at the World Cup, in the 0 – 2 loss to Brazil. At the same tournament, Germany had a poor show, falling to Mexico and South Korea as their title defence ended at the group stage but they will take hope in the fact that they have not lost in any of their last five home matches. The two sides have met thrice before; in the last meeting, at the 2010 World Cup, Serbia picked a 1 – 0 win but earlier, Germany had beaten them in two friendly matches.