Manuel Neuer to start vs Northern Ireland

While there has been many a rumor suggesting that Marc-André ter Stegen might grab a rare start for Germany, those rumors were unceremoniously shut down by Bild’s Christian Falk.

This is important for a few reasons. First of all, it ensures that the captain of Die Mannshaft will remain on the field. Second, it also shows us that for all the times we criticize Joachim Löw (and rightly so, mind you), he can still make the right decision.

If you were to take the fact Neuer gave up 4 goals vs the Netherlands at face value, that would ignore the fact that Neuer was simply unbelievable during the game. Despite the fact that the defense in front of him was horrendous (that’s a whole other story), Neuer made numerous incredible saves including one on a wide-open Virgil van Dijk that at the time kept Germany in the game.

Fact of the matter is that the Neuer of old is back, and I for one am happy to see Jogi stick with him behind the sticks.