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.



'World's Oldest Marathon Runner' Dies Aged 114 in Road Accident

 (FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
(FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
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'World's Oldest Marathon Runner' Dies Aged 114 in Road Accident

 (FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)
(FILES) Indian-born British national Fauja Singh (C) waves a Hong Kong flag after crossing the finish line in the 10-km event as part of the Hong Kong Marathon on February 24, 2013. (Photo by Dale DE LA REY / AFP)

India's Fauja Singh, believed to be the world's oldest distance runner, has died in a road accident aged 114, his biographer said Tuesday.

Singh, an Indian-born British national, nicknamed the "Turbaned Tornado", died after being hit by a vehicle in Punjab state's Jalandhar district on Monday, AFP reported.

"My Turbaned Tornado is no more," Fauja's biographer Khushwant Singh wrote on X.

"He was struck by an unidentified vehicle... in his village, Bias, while crossing the road. Rest in peace, my dear Fauja."

Singh did not have a birth certificate but his family said he was born on April 1, 1911.

He ran full marathons (42 kilometer) till the age of 100.

His last race was a 10-kilometer (six-mile) event at the 2013 Hong Kong Marathon when 101, where he finished in one hour, 32 minutes and 28 seconds.

He became an international sensation after taking up distance running at the ripe old age of 89, after the death of his wife and one of his sons, inspired by seeing marathons on television.

Although widely regarded as the world's oldest marathon runner, he was not certified by Guinness World Records as he could not prove his age, saying that birth certificates did not exist when he was born under British colonial rule in 2011.

Singh was a torchbearer for the Olympics at Athens 2004 and London 2012, and appeared in advertisements with sports stars such as David Beckham and Muhammad Ali.

His strength and vitality were credited to a routine of farm walks and a diet including Indian sweet "laddu" packed with dry fruits and home-churned curd.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute on social media.

"Fauja Singh was extraordinary because of his unique persona and the manner in which he inspired the youth of India on a very important topic of fitness," said Modi on X.

"He was an exceptional athlete with incredible determination. Pained by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family and countless admirers around the world."