Euro 2024 Host Germany Looks To Rebuild After World Cup

Germany's National coach Hansi Flick, right, talks to Florian Wirtz during the national team's training session at the DFB campus prior to the international match between Germany and Peru, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday March 22, 2023. (dpa)
Germany's National coach Hansi Flick, right, talks to Florian Wirtz during the national team's training session at the DFB campus prior to the international match between Germany and Peru, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday March 22, 2023. (dpa)
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Euro 2024 Host Germany Looks To Rebuild After World Cup

Germany's National coach Hansi Flick, right, talks to Florian Wirtz during the national team's training session at the DFB campus prior to the international match between Germany and Peru, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday March 22, 2023. (dpa)
Germany's National coach Hansi Flick, right, talks to Florian Wirtz during the national team's training session at the DFB campus prior to the international match between Germany and Peru, in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday March 22, 2023. (dpa)

Another World Cup failure, another rebuild for Germany. This time there's even more at stake.

Germany will host next year's European Championship and is desperate to avoid another debacle at home.

The Germans once took pride in having a “tournament team,” one that could put distractions aside to perform when it mattered. Following group-stage exits at the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and a round-of-16 loss at the last European Championship, however, Germany has not won a knockout game since the now-defunct Confederations Cup in 2017.

The current rebuild — with Germany able to skip qualifying as Euro 2024 host — starts with friendlies against Peru on Saturday and Belgium on Tuesday.

Germany coach Hansi Flick's squad is a mix of regulars like Emre Can, Timo Werner and Joshua Kimmich, and some more experimental picks. The six players getting their first call-ups include two right backs, Josha Vagnoman and Marius Wolf. There is also AC Milan defender Malick Thiaw and 21-year-old winger Kevin Schade, who is a bench player for Brentford in the Premier League.

Just like predecessor Joachim Löw after the 2018 World Cup, Flick has left out Bayern Munich forward Thomas Müller. The 33-year-old Müller signaled his international career might be over in an emotional interview at the World Cup in Qatar, but then changed tack to say he was still available for selection.

Müller has been here before. After Löw dropped him in 2018, he ended up being recalled in 2021 in the aftermath of a 6-0 loss to Spain.

“We appreciate each other and will continue to be in good contact,” Müller posted on Instagram last week after it was confirmed Flick would not select him.

Some other big names are out of the squad temporarily, whether because of injury (goalkeeper Manuel Neuer broke his leg while skiing) or personal reasons (midfielder Ilkay Gündogan became a father last week). The reasons for dropping Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger and Bayern forward Leroy Sané are less clear-cut, but seem to be part of Flick’s experiments in the rebuild.

Flick already bet on youth in his World Cup squad by selecting forwards Jamal Musiala, Karim Adeyemi and Youssoufa Moukoko, which made the latter the youngest player to ever play for Germany at the tournament at 18. All three will be missing from the upcoming games with injuries.

Another promising youngster, Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz, will return after missing the World Cup with injury.

Löw spent 2019 and 2020 working on his own failed rebuild. That means there is already a large pool of players who have been tried in the Germany team and discarded, especially at problem positions like left back, where Flick seems to have settled on Leipzig defender David Raum over other potential candidates like Inter Milan's Robin Gosens.



Pegula Beats Swiatek on Grass to Win Bad Homburg Title in Wimbledon Tune-up

US Jessica Pegula poses with the trophy as she won against Poland's Iga Swiatek in the final match at the WTA tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
US Jessica Pegula poses with the trophy as she won against Poland's Iga Swiatek in the final match at the WTA tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
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Pegula Beats Swiatek on Grass to Win Bad Homburg Title in Wimbledon Tune-up

US Jessica Pegula poses with the trophy as she won against Poland's Iga Swiatek in the final match at the WTA tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
US Jessica Pegula poses with the trophy as she won against Poland's Iga Swiatek in the final match at the WTA tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Top-seeded Jessica Pegula beat five-time major champion Iga Swiatek 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to win the grass-court Bad Homburg Open, extending Swiatek’s year-long title drought.

Pegula clinched her third title of 2025 — with the others in Austin, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina — and it was the ninth title of the 31-year-old American's career, The Associated Press reported.

Swiatek was seeded fourth at the WTA 500 tournament in Germany, where the 24-year-old Pole sought her first trophy since the 2024 French Open and a 23rd overall.

In their 11th career meeting, but first on grass, Pegula won for the fifth time overall. Pegula beat Swiatek in the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open, where she finished the runner-up.

Although Swiatek hit nine aces in Saturday's final, she also dropped her serve twice. Pegula saved the only break point she faced and won a higher percentage of points on first and second serve.

The former No.1-ranked Swiatek has won four French Open titles and one US Open, but has never been beyond the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

Pegula has also never been past the last eight at Wimbledon, where plays starts on Monday in London.