Germany vs Belarus: Lineups, team news, and more!

This current international break contains the last set of Euro 2020 qualifiers for national teams all over Europe. A first or second-place finish in group C will be enough for Germany to secure qualification. To achieve this, Die Mannschaft needs a win in either of their final ties, which are against Belarus and Northern Ireland, so long as the Netherlands does not lose to Northern Ireland. The team that finishes third in the group will have to go through risky Nations League playoffs. Therefore it’s imperative that Jogi Löw and his men get the job done now.

DW has a good article explaining how the qualification process for Euro 2020 works, in more detail.

Team News

Four of Germany’s starters in their last fixture have already been ruled out. Marco Reus, Kai Havertz, Niklas Süle, and Marcel Halstenberg are all unavailable due to injury. Furthermore, Emre Can is suspended after receiving a red card when Germany played Estonia. Leroy Sané, Julien Draxler, Antonio Rudiger, Thilo Kehrer, and Kevin Trapp are also still missing from the Germany squad due to lingering injuries and fitness problems. Lastly, Niklas Stark has been ruled out for the encounter on Saturday by Löw — he could still play a part vs Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

At keeper, Manuel Neuer will start tomorrow’s game, while Ter Stegan will start vs Northern Ireland. In defense, Germany has a limited amount of options. In his pre-match press conference, Löw stated that Mattias Ginter was a sure-fire starter at centre-back and that Jonathan Tah will be Ginter’s partner, provided he is fit enough to start. To round off the inexperienced German defence will likely be Lukas Klostermann and Nico Schulz. However, other options include Jonas Hector and Robin Koch.

Germany will almost certainly line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and Löw has confirmed the starting three in midfield. It will be Joshua Kimmich, Toni Kroos, and Ilkay Gündogan (who’s been superb this season). Kroos could be the most offensively placed centre-mid but so could Gündogan. The only certainty is that Kimmich will be the most deep-lying of the three.

Finally, in the attacking front three, we will see a combination of Serge Gnabry, Brandt, Luca Waldschmidt, and Timo Werner. Gnabry and Werner are both capable of playing in every position along the forward line, while Brandt and Waldschmidt would likely only be seen at left wing and striker respectively. Löw himself stated that Gnabry will start upfront, but where that leaves Germany’s other attackers is anyone’s guess.

Here’s how BFW thinks Germany will line up: