{"id":1178,"date":"2026-03-31T11:10:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/1178\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:10:06","slug":"germany-place-world-cup-faith-in-kai-havertz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/1178\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany place World Cup faith in Kai Havertz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The DFB sporting director says Havertz is moving towards the level Germany expect, after a long spell disrupted by injury.\"STUTTGART,Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Rudi Voller has backed Kai Havertz to be exactly where Germany want him by the time the World Cup arrives, offering a strong endorsement of the Arsenal forward after his long injury lay-off.<\/p>\n

The debate over Germany\u2019s attacking options has centred on whether Havertz, Nick Woltemade or Deniz Undav will lead the line, but according to BILD, Havertz is already set to become a regular under coach Julian Nagelsmann. <\/p>\n

The same report says Woltemade is expected to act as back-up at the World Cup, while Undav is still fighting for his place in the squad.<\/p>\n

Voller, the DFB sporting director and one of Germany\u2019s great strikers, struck an assured note when asked about the issue. \u201cWe will not have a striker problem at the World Cup!\u201c he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"STUTTGART,Photo by Alex Grimm\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

He then spoke directly about Havertz, whose season has been disrupted by injury. \u201cKai is getting better and better in shape. He will be exactly where we want him to be for the World Cup. I am convinced that we can fully rely on Kai at the World Cup.\u201c<\/p>\n

Havertz missed almost the entire first half of the season with knee problems and then sat out another four matches in February because of muscular issues. His appearance against Switzerland in a 4-3 win was his first international match since November 2024, making it an important step in his return.<\/p>\n

He then followed that up with a goal from the spot against Ghana.<\/p>\n

Voller was encouraged not just by the fact of Havertz\u2019s comeback, but by the level of his display. \u201cI really liked the performance, I told him that personally,\u201d he said. \u201cHe himself is totally happy that he is back. You quickly forget how long he\u2019s been missing. The group received him totally well. On the grass, Kai harmonised well with his fellow forwards up front.\u201c<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The DFB sporting director says Havertz is moving towards the level Germany expect, after a long spell disrupted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[998,229,5,138,327,328,999],"class_list":{"0":"post-1178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-bild","9":"tag-deniz-undav","10":"tag-germany","11":"tag-julian-nagelsmann","12":"tag-kai-havertz","13":"tag-nick-woltemade","14":"tag-rudi-voller"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}