National team initially without Joshua Kimmich of FC Bayern

The German football national team must first do without the prelude of the World Cup year on midfield boss Joshua Kimmich.

• Criticism of World Champion Kohler at Kimmich
• Musiala not only at Bayern on the six?

The pro by Bayern Munich and his partner expect their third child in these days, Kimmy will not first come across his teammates in Gravenbruch near Frankfurt.

This was announced by the German Football Bund (DFB).

"Jo is an absolute family of family. The birth of a child is a very special moment in life. We hope he, when everything is good, then soon is with us," said Bundestrainer Hansi Flick, which initially available 24 players.

The first international match in the World Cup year will take place on Saturday (20:45 pm / ZDF) in Sinsheim, opponents is Israel. Three days later, Amsterdam against the Netherlands comes to the first hardness test.

Whether Kimmich or other players of the 25-member squad for the international matches on Saturday in Sinsheim against Israel and three days later in the Netherlands, also hung on the corona entry test. "We just wanted to go on a number safe," Flick justified the measure - knowledgeable that five players were broken away at the last entry test in November.

Criticism of World Champion Kohler at Kimmich

Kimmich was one of what the vaccine debate had further fueled around his person. First he refused the pie, then he himself suffered himself at Covid-19 and finally showed remorse. It had been "a very, very difficult time", Kimmich admitted. He had his teammates "abandoned".

Against Israel, but at the latest in the classic against the Netherlands, he should give the stabilizer again as a triple family father. But can he do that too? Jürgen Kohler has his doubts. "Joshua Kimmich is an outstanding footballer, a leader and outstanding game designer," wrote World Champion of 1990 in his "kicker" column: "But he is not the defensive six that it takes to get stability in front of the defensive chain." Kimmich "defensively too many shortcomings" - and the lead to a fundamental defensive problem in the national team, analyzed the former world-class defenders.

Flick should have similar thoughts. At least he nominated at the beginning of the year in returnees Julian Weigl and Neutling Anton Stach two defensive midfielder "as an alternative for Jo Kimmich". He looks "just on the position of the Sixser who could be a stabilizer".

Musiala not only at Bayern on the six?

An additional security against the defense should be in duels with the strong Dutch and in June in the Nations League against European champion Italy and EM-Finalist England. But it is also possible that Kimmich, like the Bayern in Jamal Musiala, is a much more offensive partner to the side. "I've already thought to let him play on the six," revealed.

He wants to find a look at the winter World Cup in Qatar "a mix of import and try out", said the national coach over the annual clearance. Because of the failures of service providers such as Niklas Süle, Leon Goretzka, Jonas Hofmann, Robin Gosens and Marco Reus, the 57-year-old is forced to get more tests when he likes him.

Kimmich is and remains his constant. That was already in Munich, where he once ordered the right-back with great success on the six. The relationship of trust between the two is enormous, in the vaccine debate Flick had placed in spite of other opinion before the player ("limits are exceeded").

Kimmich wants to repay this trust in the square - if there is everything well at birth and his coronate test is negative.