👀 Despite pain & bench threat: Undav enjoys a “10/10 night”

He was one of the absolute match-winners in today’s friendly against Finland: Deniz Undav.

The VfB star is continuing to make it incredibly difficult for Julian Nagelsmann when it comes to the World Cup: Which attacking players will secure places in the starting lineup?

Tonight, he not only scored two goals himself, but also provided an assist with a battling slide tackle. This performance shows: his poacher’s qualities are worth gold, including from the start. But Kai Havertz’s certainly are too.

That leaves the question: Should Deniz Undav have a guaranteed starting spot at the World Cup? With six goals in eight international appearances, he is at least providing a few arguments in favor.

Speaking to ZDF after the final whistle, the striker was as relaxed as ever. Much like during the discussions of recent weeks, Undav wants to keep letting his performances on the pitch do the talking.

Asked whether he had not earned a regular starting spot by now, he replied: “That’s for the national coach to decide. I can only try to do my job. It worked out well today and last time too.”

Undav wants to become world champion

What would count as a successful World Cup from Germany’s point of view? “If we win the whole thing, of course.”

And today’s game? For him, it was a classic “ten out of ten” evening: “We won the game, it couldn’t have gone any better.”

He also gave a slight all-clear regarding his substitution. From the outside, it looked as though he had picked up an injury or was at least feeling some discomfort.

But it was only “a bit of pain. Nothing serious, all relaxed, a few days of treatment and then I’ll be fine again.”

So, as things stand, an injury will not stand in the way of his participation in the World Cup. Whether that will be from the bench or from the start remains to be seen.

What the national coach says

Nagelsmann remained tight-lipped on that point, but gave Havertz—who will only arrive in a few days because of the Champions League final on Saturday evening—a conditional guarantee of a place in the starting XI for the final warm-up match on June 6 (Saturday) against hosts USA in Chicago. That would probably mean a place on the bench for Undav once again, at least for the time being.

What do you think? Would you start Undav or Havertz—or maybe even both? Write it in the comments!

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.