HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has fully recovered from a calf injury he sustained last month and is ready to go for Germany\u2019s World Cup opener against Cura\u00e7ao on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old enters the World Cup having not played for Germany in almost two years after coach Julian Nagelsmann lured him out of international retirement.<\/p>\n
\u201c(He\u2019s) definitely fit enough to start the game and he got better and better,\u201d Nagelsmann said Saturday night. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really have the rhythm, but now he found the rhythm. He played a lot, we trust him a lot and I think \u2026 in order to have a good World Cup, we need Manuel in top performance and I think he can bring that.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were questions about his health after he injured his left calf during Bayern\u2019s last Bundesliga game of the season in late May and missed the German Cup final against Stuttgart for what was called \u201cmuscular problems in his left calf.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bayern Munich captain is the only remaining member of the World Cup-winning team from 2014 on the Germany squad. This will be his fifth World Cup, which will tie the German record held by Lothar Matth\u00e4us.<\/p>\n
His return to the national team has been a boost to younger members of the squad who have leaned on him during preparations as Germany tries to bounce back after two successive World Cup group-stage exits.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovi\u0107, Neuer\u2019s teammate at Bayern, raved about Neuer\u2019s leadership as the 22-year-old prepares to make his World Cup debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cManuel is a world class player,\u201d Pavlovi\u0107 said. \u201cHe always gives me tips. He helps me on the pitch and it is very important for me. I am very grateful for any tip he gives me and I\u2019m trying to implement any tip he gives me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Four-time champion Germany is a heavy favorite against Cura\u00e7ao, which is making its debut in the World Cup and is the smallest nation ever to qualify for the tournament. Though they\u2019re the underdogs in the opener, coach Dick Advocaat has plenty of World Cup experience having coached the Netherlands in 1994 and South Korea in 2006.<\/p>\n
At 78, he\u2019ll become the oldest head coach in World Cup history on Sunday, while the 38-year-old Nagelsmann is the youngest in this year\u2019s tournament. The 40-year age difference between these coaches is the largest in World Cup history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a really cool coach,\u201d Nagelsmann said. \u201cI think it\u2019s really cool and a great compliment for his work. I got to know him a few times and he\u2019s always kind. As a young coach I always can learn from people like him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t expect Nagelsmann to be coaching in 40 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like my job, but I hope to do different things with my life at that age,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Advocaat said he\u2019s impressed that Nagelsmann is in this position at such a young age.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe must have something special and he has that otherwise he wouldn\u2019t be the coach of the national team,\u201d Advocaat said. \u201cHe\u2019s an excellent coach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has fully recovered from a calf injury he sustained last month and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1025355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5310],"tags":[283333,2000,299,1824,283332,57563,33900,244737,260986,260985,283334,283335],"class_list":["post-1025354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-dick-advocaat","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-germany","tag-germany-world-cup-neuer","tag-julian-nagelsmann","tag-lothar-matthaus","tag-manuel-neuer","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-40815-ap-texas-sports-only","tag-product-42059-world-cup-text"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116746463889735550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}