Midweek Warm-up: Is it “Ter Stegen Time” for Germany? Bayern Munich star Manuel Neuer’s job could be in jeopardy; World Cup predictions; Throwing it back to Modest Mouse; & MORE!

Former Bayern Munich and Germany star Lothar Matthäus had an interesting take on Germany’s World Cup failure in Qatar.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

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Matthäus, who has been very vocal in assessing what went wrong for Germany, thinks it is time for FC Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Kevin Trapp, or even Fulham’s Bernd Leno to mount a challenge to Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer.

“We have the quality, you can try out Ter Stegen, Trapp or Leno in the next few games, give them the opportunity to show whether you can rely on them. Especially after the Costa Rica game, where Neuer made unusual mistakes,” told Bild (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “All three (Neuer, Ter Stegen, Trapp) are world class. Even if Manu is out, I have no worries regarding Trapp or Ter Stegen.”

It is true that both Ter Stegen, Trapp, and Leno are capable, but removing Neuer from his perch as the national team’s starting goalkeeper is something that would certainly send a shockwave through whichever team is cobbled together for Germany’s next international break.

When Joachim Löw lopped Thomas Müller, Jerome Boateng, and Mats Hummels off the squad, it was supposed to represent a changing of the guard, but it was really only a half measure — and ultimately failed because Germany never really fully or aptly replaced any of the three players.

In addition, Löw kept other under-performing veterans on his roster, which further muddied the waters. Flick’s approach, meanwhile, was to just put together the best possible team regardless of age.

Whether he got it right remains up for debate, but the results at the World Cup provide a hint that maybe Germany’s “best” is still not good enough these days.

Flick’s approach his some bumps in the road as well as the former Bayern Munich boss lost Timo Werner before the tournament, entered play with Müller not fully healed, and then lost Leroy Sané for a spell during the tournament due to injury.

Should the next iteration of Germany feature a clean slate with the next generation names put on the marquee whether they are ready or not? Or, should Flick continue with a mix to help continue a slow transition to a new core group?

Song of the Midweek: “Dashboard” by Modest Mouse

Released in 2007, “Dashboard” was among the hits released by Modest Mouse and while it might not be the most well-known of their songs from that period, it is still one that captures their unique sound in a pretty awesome way. Enjoy:

Predictions

I was initially going to release these in a Schmankerl, but ultimately just decided to wait until another Warm-up would be published:

• Netherlands 3-0 United States*
• Argentina 3-0 Australia*
• France 3-1 Poland*
• England 2-1 Senegal*
• Japan 1-3 Croatia*
• Brazil 4-0 South Korea
• Morocco 1-3 Spain
• Portugal 2-1 Switzerland

*Predictions were recorded by not published until now

Prediction Records

• Last World Cup match day record: 10-6
• Last Bundesliga match day record: 4-5
• Overall Bundesliga record: 64-69
• DFL-Supercup record: 1-0
• DFB-Pokal record: 2-0
• Champions League record: 5-1
• World Cup overall record: 28-20
• WWU overall record: 100-90
• Guest predictions: 7-4