Canucks relying on Adam Foote’s ‘brilliant hockey mind’ to stoke big season

VANCOUVER — The most valuable Vancouver Canuck last season was probably their coach, so Adam Foote is trying to replace not only his friend and mentor but the team’s MVP.

It’s not a bad outcome if Foote turns out to be Rick Tocchet 2.0. 

He didn’t even plan to coach the Canucks — “I thought I was going with Rick” — until general manager Patrik Allvin and Canucks president Jim Rutherford approached him in May, asked Foote to interview, and then hired him.

But what has become clear as the Vancouver Canucks prepare to open their season of salvation Thursday (7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+) against the Calgary Flames is that Foote, hired partly for organizational continuity, has strong ideas of his own and is his own coach.

He is not trying to be Toc 2.0, although, like the coach who brought Foote back into the National Hockey League as an assistant less than three years ago, the new head coach has been the Canucks’ most important figure so far.

“You know, even when they were working together, they had different ideas about things,” Rutherford told Sportsnet. “I mean, not always, but certainly (sometimes) they didn’t view things exactly the same. So, yeah, Adam is very much his own guy. He’s a real thinker — thinks things through and thinks things ahead of the curve.

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“We don’t have to rehash everything that happened here last year but, you know, we all understand that it didn’t go right. And Adam was aware of most of those shortcomings or issues that were dealt with, so he was prepared to tackle them. He understands the importance of communication, and the fact that he knew what went on here last year was a great advantage to him getting this job.”

Immediately after he was hired, Foote began repairing the Canucks’ leadership, reaching out to key players over the summer and imploring them to take accountability and support each other. Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser and Filip Hronek, among others, have been setting an example since training camp opened, and the team seems transformed by this new dynamic.

Foote also made it a priority to connect with enigmatic centre Elias Pettersson, who was like a hologram last season but now looks inspired and confident. And the head coach and his staff have re-energized players with fresh ideas about attacking and playing with pace and aggression. The speed and intensity of Vancouver practices, even in the pre-season, appear to be higher than last season.

“We’re in a different place than we were last year, probably more at peace,” Hughes said this week.

Winger Kiefer Sherwood said: “I think we’re all feeling a lot more comfortable and on the same page. There’s a different energy around the team this year, a different buzz. Footy is really good at communicating and allows guys to, you know, be themselves. But he’s also very clear in what he expects. And, obviously, he was a leader, too, right? Like, he knows. Anytime you’re a captain in the NHL, let alone win a couple of Cups, with his pedigree, you know what it takes. I think he’s done a great job of just getting everyone to kind of pull the rope in the same direction.”

After an 18-year playing career that saw the ferocious shutdown defenceman from Whitby, Ont., win a pair of Stanley Cups with the Colorado Avalanche and Olympic and World Cup gold medals with Canada, Foote is a rookie NHL head coach at age 54.

“I mean, this doesn’t happen every day at my age,” he said, smiling. “I’d let (opportunities) go. I was always in hockey, but I wanted to be around my family. But Rick took a chance on me and taught me a lot. And now Jim and Patrik took a chance on me.

“I didn’t even know until a year and a half ago that, OK, I might be able to do this (as a head coach). Or want to do it and put in the time. This is fun, it’s good. It’s the closest thing to playing. It’s just fun to be around the guys.”

Regarding the critical importance Foote has placed on Canucks leadership as a catalyst for team-building, he said he would have done the same thing were he hired to coach an experienced, Stanley Cup-winning team like the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“It’s like raising kids; if they understand the contract, they’re part of it,” he explained. “They agree to it, and then there’s more accountability. And the thing is, they hold themselves accountable. I just look at it like this is what we have to do. Because when the puck drops, we’re going into a battle and if you’re not on the same page, people get into trouble.”

“My confidence in Footy, obviously, is very high,” senior defenceman Tyler Myers said. “For me, it’s just the way he manages people. I think he’s got a read on a room that is as good as I’ve seen in any coach. He really knows what the room needs at different times throughout the year, and I expect him to take that into his head coaching position. 

“Honestly, this just seems natural to him. I can tell he’s kind of carried it from when he played. It just seems like it’s part of his personality, part of his identity. It doesn’t seem like he has to force anything.”

Foote said his transition has been helped immensely by his rebuilt coaching staff, which includes respected assistants Kevin Dean and Brett McLean, and Foote’s old friend and teammate, Scott Young, who had been a major part of hockey operations as the Canucks’ player-personnel director.

The head coach said the only time he felt nervous was the first day of training camp in Penticton, B.C., and during his initial address to players and team staff.

“You don’t know if they’re going to understand your jokes, but you want to send the right message,” Foote explained. “But I think the preparation we did with the leadership group in the summer, they understood my message. We don’t talk about it every day, but we practise it.

“I believe in the process. As a player or a coach or as an assistant coach, there’s a process. We put the work in, and we create good habits and we believe in it. I know that sounds boring, but that gives me more confidence. It’s confidence that can help you rest at night, rest your brain a little bit more.”

The Canucks were able to sleep well during the pre-season because they were able to play faster and more aggressively without sacrificing the defensive ideals that Tocchet introduced — details that were as responsible as anything for the team finishing with 90 points despite last season’s drama, chaos and injuries.

A surprisingly broad youth movement, headlined by 18-year-old centre Braeden Cootes, has further stoked internal enthusiasm. The Canucks went 4-2 in the pre-season, and noticeably got stronger and built momentum as it progressed, and had none of the injuries to top players that helped torpedo last season.

Players have looked as connected and cohesive on the ice as they seem to be in the dressing room.

But now they’ve got to show this in games that count.

“We’re not talking a lot about last year,” defenceman Marcus Pettersson said. “We put that behind us. It’s this year. We’re talking about here and now, and how we can get better today, and how we can get closer together as a group today.

“There’s not one recipe for winning. Every group is different, every player, every personality is different. You’ve just got to find your thing and kind of roll with it. Find your identity. I think that’s one thing that I’ve learned: the years that it hasn’t gone well, maybe you struggle, you’re talking about your team’s identity and how you want to play. The teams that win, they know their identity. Florida is a great example of that. Identity, I think, is a real thing.”

Captain Hughes said: “The structure is really good. Footy’s kind of got a brilliant hockey mind, so that also makes it easier on everyone. It’s fun to be around the rink now. I think we’ve got a great group of guys. I don’t know how the year is going to go, but I think that we played good hockey in the pre-season, and usually … that (leads to) a good start. Our attention to detail is in a good spot. Everyone’s in good shape. Camp was put together intelligently. We’re ready to go.”

With Adam Foote 1.0.

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Youngblood remake sticks to original film’s premise of chasing hockey dream

In the era of sequels and remakes, seeing beloved classics recreated for a contemporary audience can sometimes be a risky proposition. How do you update a 1986 film made with decidedly ‘80s sensibilities for the modern day?

While the original movie — starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves in his first feature film role — was a flop with critics, it has garnered cult classic status in the near-40 years since its release. Aside from featuring a trio of actors who would go on to find incredible success, the 1986 film also captured a sense of realism not often seen in Hollywood productions by including real hockey players.

The audience also got to see former Toronto Maple Leafs players Steve ‘Stumpy’ Thomas and Peter Zezel fly around the rink during their OHL days, while former Windsor Spitfire George Finn portrayed enforcer Carl Racki. It was no different behind the camera: Peter Markle, the original film’s director, had been a former NCAA player for Yale University in the mid-1960s. Hockey was in this film’s DNA.

So how does that movie, a story about a young man leaving his New York family farm to play junior hockey in Hamilton, get updated for 2025?

The approach for director Hubert Davis: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“I was just trying to take the core of it, this idea of young men and women who are pursuing their hockey dreams, and at what cost,” Davis said in an interview with Sportsnet when the film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. “I was just trying to maintain that same idea of pursuing your dreams — how you do that, your influences whether that’s parents or coaches, so that kind of stayed intact for what the game means today.”

That pursuit of one’s hockey dream has always been at the centre of Youngblood’s story, and that is still the case with 2025’s re-imagining of the original film. The remake does still change a handful of smaller items — the Hamilton Mustangs players party a little less than they did in the original film, though that is perhaps true for many of us — but, ultimately, the biggest change lies with the Dean Youngblood himself.

The main character, given depth by Toronto’s Ashton James, is consistently held back by both his short fuse, and an unwillingness to back down from a fight. It’s a marked difference from Lowe’s Youngblood, who could skate and score, but couldn’t handle himself that well when he needed to drop the gloves.

We also get some additional backstory from Dean’s life, including a racially-motivated incident which prompts him to smash an opponent with his stick, leading to a year-long suspension. Davis hopes that tweak in the story arc won’t change how people view the character.

“It’s a strange thing, because you’re trying to make it specific to that character and his experience, but I do think the story is quite universal,” Davis said. “It’s always a bit of a balance as a director to fine-tune both those things.”

Largely filmed at Sadlon Arena, home of the OHL’s Barrie Colts, viewers can also expect to see realistic hockey — unlike Lowe before him, James clearly has the ability to skate, which does help the on-camera action when Youngblood goes from practice to the real deal for the first time. It might not have future NHLers like Steve Thomas on hand, but the puck does fly around the rink with satisfying ease as the Mustangs go bar down early and often.

The film also honours the legacy of Charles Officer, former Calgary Flames-prospect-turned-director who had originally been attached to direct this project before passing away at the age of 48 in 2023. According to Davis, Officer’s hockey fingerprints can be found all over the Mustangs’ search for playoff success, whether it’s the people we see on-screen or the fast-moving hockey itself.

“A lot of people came on board, even the actors, they knew Charles, and so they came on board with the same intent that I did, to honour him,” the director said. “A lot of [the action] came back from Charles wanting to infuse his own experiences [in the sport].”

Ultimately, the changes help to bring this story into the 21^st century while still maintaining what lies at the heart of the film: the relentless drive that it takes to succeed in professional sports, and specifically in the competitive world of minor league hockey.

It may not redefine the genre — stories about winning and losing can, by nature, only end one of two ways — but it’s a worthy addition to the pantheon of hockey films.

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Prospects Report: Armada’s Xavier Villeneuve drawing Lane Hutson comparisons

As a young child in Rimouski, Que., Xavier Villeneuve quickly decided he had no interest in trying to become the next Brian Orser, Kurt Browning or Elvis Stojko.

Villeneuve’s dad, Alexandre, put his son in figure-skating lessons at age four to help him learn to skate, but Xavier had other ideas.

“I was on the ice and I was crying and screaming. I really didn’t love it,” Villeneuve said with a laugh over the phone this week.

“He was playing (hockey) in the beer league next to us (at the same time). After his game, we always had the ice for an hour. It was free hockey, you could just shoot pucks. As soon as he put a stick in my hand, I started to love it. He couldn’t get me off the ice.”

Young Xavier clearly was on to something.

Fourteen years later, Villeneuve, 18, has developed into one of the most intriguing prospects for next year’s NHL Draft. He isn’t physically imposing at a slender five-foot-11 and 157 pounds, but you won’t find many teenage defencemen with better stick or skating skills.

The dynamic Blainville-Boisbriand Armada blue-liner certainly has similarities to reigning Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens (five-foot-nine, 162 pounds). Villeneuve embraces the natural link to an NHL defenceman playing less than 40 km away from the home of the CHL’s top-ranked Armada.

“To be compared to a great player like that is motivation to me,” Villeneuve said. “… Without being too cocky, I want to be in the NHL and want to be that type of player, too.”

Added Armada general manager Olivier Picard: “The way he moves with the puck, the way he sells one play and makes another one, he has some similarities with Lane Hutson. His compete level is pretty much the same …The way he moves on the blue line, fake, fake, fake, then bring it to the net, there’s a lot of similarities with what Lane’s doing.”

While Villeneuve knows his offensive game is his strength, he is fully aware one-dimensional players tend not to excel in the pro ranks.

Working on his defence has been a priority.

“I made the acquisition of some players like (Mael) Lavigne who’s six-foot-four, and he wants to go against one of those guys (in practice) because he knows at the next level, there’s not going to be five-foot-seven players he’s going against,” Picard said. “He’s trying to go against bigger guys and practice and find ways to still manage to defend even if they are stronger, taller or have a bigger reach than him. He’s doing what he has to do to make sure he can have success at the next level.”

The early results are promising. Just the third player to win the QMJHL’s top defenceman award at age-17 last season, Villeneuve already is a plus-10 through six games this year after being a plus-14 for all of 2024-25.

“The big question mark for people with my size is obviously can he defend because my stick is smaller, I’m not as strong physically,” said Villeneuve, one of the first three players picked for the 2025 CHL USA Prospects Challenge next month in Calgary and Lethbridge, Alta. “But to be the style of player I want to be, you can’t be six-four or six-three. It’s (about) being agile and moving quick. I’m not too worried about (his size). I’ve got other big strengths I can bring to the game.”

Villeneuve, whose older brother Charles-Olivier played 121 games in the QMJHL from 2021-24, may have had his best game of the season last week against previously unbeaten Charlottetown.

His first goal of the season was an absolute beauty, as he took a pass at the point, eluded two defenders and then went backhand to finish.

He added two assists, including another play for the highlight reels.

“It’s funny, in practice I love to practice moves and stuff,” he said. “So that game, I had a nice goal, I would have never thought about doing it. It was just kind of a read-and-react thing.”

“Even our players on the bench, they’re not surprised but (they’re still kind of) stunned every time,” Picard said. “They’re looking at each other like ‘holy (expletive). Even in practice.” 

Playing on a team with NHL first-rounders Bill Zonnon (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Justin Carbonneau (St. Louis Blues), Villeneuve feels his squad has what it takes to make a run for the Memorial Cup.

If that happens, it will only help him with his individual goals.

“I want to be a first-round pick. That’s always been a dream of mine,” he said. “To get there, every day I want to prove to everyone I’m not just good defensively, I can be great.”

Canadian conundrum

On one hand, Hockey Canada will be happy to see a healthy chunk of Canadian teenagers making opening-night NHL rosters.

On the other, it could hurt Canada’s roster at the world junior championship if some of these players stick in the NHL.

The national program will be watching closely as guys like Michael Misa (San Jose Sharks), Matthew Schaefer (New York Islanders), Zayne Parekh (Calgary Flames), Sam Dickinson (San Jose Sharks), Berkly Catton (Seattle Kraken), Brady Martin (Nashville Predators), Braeden Cootes (Vancouver Canucks), Beckett Sennecke (Anaheim Ducks), Harrison Brunicke (Pittsburgh Penguins), Benjamin Kindel (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Jett Luchanko (Philadelphia Flyers) attempt to stay in the NHL. If they play more than nine games, the first year of their entry-level contract kicks in.

Several of these players figure to be returned to their CHL teams in the next few weeks. They also could be loaned to the Canadian junior team in December before ending up back with their junior club teams.

Canada is desperate to get back on the podium in Minnesota after being eliminated in the quarterfinals the last two years.

Calgary calling

Could Flames prospect Theo Stockselius come to Calgary to play junior hockey?

It’s possible after the Hitmen acquired the Swedish forward’s CHL rights in a trade with the Seattle Thunderbirds last week.

The second-round 2025 pick currently is playing at home with Djurgardens. But the Hitmen traded a fourth-round pick and three conditional picks, including a first-rounder, to get him, so Calgary clearly is going to make a strong pitch. The Hitmen and Flames both are owned by the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation.

Surprise stories

The QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders and WHL’s Penticton Vees are two teams to watch after impressive starts.

The Islanders, off to a 6-1-0-1 start while playing just one game (their season opener) at home, made their intentions to contend clear with a significant QMJHL deal this week.

The Islanders acquired overage defenceman Dylan MacKinnon from the Moncton Wildcats for three draft picks.

The Wildcats had a surplus of overagers, and decided to part ways with a steady defensive blue-liner from last year’s league championship club.

The expansion Vees (4-2-0-1), meanwhile, swept a three-in-three trip to the U.S. last weekend with wins over the Portland Winterhawks, the Thunderbirds and Wenatchee Wild. Penticton has jumped up to the WHL this season after being a longtime BCHL franchise. Fred Harbinson, a fixture behind the bench., has continued to coach the team in a new league.

New York Islanders prospect Jacob Kvasnicka leads the Vees with 10 points in seven games. His WHL rights were acquired by Penticton in an off-season trade with Wenatchee.

Games to watch

Thursday, Oct. 9: Blainville Boisbriand Armada (5-0-1-0) at Newfoundland Regiment (4-2-0-0), 5:30 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. NDT

The CHL’s top-ranked team pays its first visit to a market bubbling with enthusiasm over the return of major-junior hockey. The Armada franchise started as the St. John’s Fog Devils in 2005 before moving to Verdun, Que., and then its current home.

Friday, Oct. 10: Kamloops Blazers (3-2-0-0) at Prince Albert Raiders (5-0-1-0), 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. ST

Two first-round prospects for next year’s NHL Draft clash square off. Blazers forward JP Hurlbert entered the week leading the WHL in scoring, while Raiders defenceman Daxon Rudolph has six points in five games.

Friday, Oct. 10: Michigan Wolverines (2-0) at Providence Friars (0-0), 7 p.m. ET

The Wolverines, who heavily recruited CHL players after the rule change late last year, outscored Mercyhurst 18-1 in their season-opening, two-game set last weekend. Montreal Canadiens first-round pick Michael Hage was the top NCAA scorer in the first weekend of play, registering seven points (two goals, five assists) for Michigan. Providence features Anaheim Ducks first-round pick Roger McQueen.

Tuesday, Oct. 14: Guelph Storm (3-2-1-0) at Kitchener Rangers (4-2-0-0), 7 p.m. ET

First meeting of the year between regional rivals battling it out to host the 2027 Memorial Cup. The CHL is expected to pick its ’27 host team by the end of 2025.

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AP Source: USA Basketball expected to name Erik Spoelstra as new head coach

Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat has emerged as the choice to become the next coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team for the 2027 World Cup in Qatar and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, two people with knowledge of the situation said Thursday.

Spoelstra and USA Basketball have yet to completely finalize any agreement, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because no public announcement has been scheduled.

Spoelstra would be replacing Steve Kerr, who coached the Americans in the last Olympic cycle and led the team to a gold medal at the Paris Games. The U.S. men have won the last five Olympic gold medals, and Spoelstra was on the staff that won in Paris last summer. He told The Associated Press after the gold-medal game in Paris that he “would be honoured” if USA Basketball asked him to take over the program.

Spoelstra would also become the first Heat coach to have the distinction of being the Olympic coach.

The move comes not long after USA Basketball finalized an agreement to make Duke coach Kara Lawson the coach of the women’s national team for the Olympic cycle through the Los Angeles Games.

Spoelstra — whose father, Jon Spoelstra, was an NBA executive with Portland, Denver and New Jersey — was a standout high school guard in Oregon, then played at the University of Portland, where he was the West Coast Conference’s freshman of the year. After college, he spent two years playing professionally in Germany before the Heat called with an offer to hire the 24-year-old for a job in their video room — a deal that got done about a month before Miami hired Pat Riley to take over in 1995.

Spoelstra is entering his 18th season as coach of the Heat, making him the coach with the longest current tenure in the league after the retirement of San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich. He’s won two NBA titles as head coach, won another as an assistant under Pat Riley in 2006 and was part of USA Basketball’s coaching staffs under Kerr in both the World Cup in 2023 and the Paris Olympics in 2024.

The 54-year-old Spoelstra is 787-572 in his 17 seasons with Miami.

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Youngblood remake sticks to original film’s premise of chasing hockey dream

In the era of sequels and remakes, seeing beloved classics recreated for a contemporary audience can sometimes be a risky proposition. How do you update a 1986 film made with decidedly ‘80s sensibilities for the modern day?

While the original movie — starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves in his first feature film role — was a flop with critics, it has garnered cult classic status in the near-40 years since its release. Aside from featuring a trio of actors who would go on to find incredible success, the 1986 film also captured a sense of realism not often seen in Hollywood productions by including real hockey players.

The audience also got to see former Toronto Maple Leafs players Steve ‘Stumpy’ Thomas and Peter Zezel fly around the rink during their OHL days, while former Windsor Spitfire George Finn portrayed enforcer Carl Racki. It was no different behind the camera: Peter Markle, the original film’s director, had been a former NCAA player for Yale University in the mid-1960s. Hockey was in this film’s DNA.

So how does that movie, a story about a young man leaving his New York family farm to play junior hockey in Hamilton, get updated for 2025?

The approach for director Hubert Davis: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“I was just trying to take the core of it, this idea of young men and women who are pursuing their hockey dreams, and at what cost,” Davis said in an interview with Sportsnet when the film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last month. “I was just trying to maintain that same idea of pursuing your dreams — how you do that, your influences whether that’s parents or coaches, so that kind of stayed intact for what the game means today.”

That pursuit of one’s hockey dream has always been at the centre of Youngblood’s story, and that is still the case with 2025’s re-imagining of the original film. The remake does still change a handful of smaller items — the Hamilton Mustangs players party a little less than they did in the original film, though that is perhaps true for many of us — but, ultimately, the biggest change lies with the Dean Youngblood himself.

The main character, given depth by Toronto’s Ashton James, is consistently held back by both his short fuse, and an unwillingness to back down from a fight. It’s a marked difference from Lowe’s Youngblood, who could skate and score, but couldn’t handle himself that well when he needed to drop the gloves.

We also get some additional backstory from Dean’s life, including a racially-motivated incident which prompts him to smash an opponent with his stick, leading to a year-long suspension. Davis hopes that tweak in the story arc won’t change how people view the character.

“It’s a strange thing, because you’re trying to make it specific to that character and his experience, but I do think the story is quite universal,” Davis said. “It’s always a bit of a balance as a director to fine-tune both those things.”

Largely filmed at Sadlon Arena, home of the OHL’s Barrie Colts, viewers can also expect to see realistic hockey — unlike Lowe before him, James clearly has the ability to skate, which does help the on-camera action when Youngblood goes from practice to the real deal for the first time. It might not have future NHLers like Steve Thomas on hand, but the puck does fly around the rink with satisfying ease as the Mustangs go bar down early and often.

The film also honours the legacy of Charles Officer, former Calgary Flames-prospect-turned-director who had originally been attached to direct this project before passing away at the age of 48 in 2023. According to Davis, Officer’s hockey fingerprints can be found all over the Mustangs’ search for playoff success, whether it’s the people we see on-screen or the fast-moving hockey itself.

“A lot of people came on board, even the actors, they knew Charles, and so they came on board with the same intent that I did, to honour him,” the director said. “A lot of [the action] came back from Charles wanting to infuse his own experiences [in the sport].”

Ultimately, the changes help to bring this story into the 21^st century while still maintaining what lies at the heart of the film: the relentless drive that it takes to succeed in professional sports, and specifically in the competitive world of minor league hockey.

It may not redefine the genre — stories about winning and losing can, by nature, only end one of two ways — but it’s a worthy addition to the pantheon of hockey films.

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‘We need win after win’: Crunch time looms for Germany in World Cup qualifying

A World Cup without Germany used to be unthinkable. Now the four-time champion needs to turn things around to ensure a spot at next year’s tournament.

A shock 2-0 loss to Slovakia in World Cup qualifying means Julian Nagelsmann’s team may need a perfect record in the rest of its qualifiers, starting with wins over Luxembourg on Friday and Northern Ireland on Monday.

“Everyone expects of us that we’ll beat every opponent 5-0, 6-0 but that’s no longer possible,” midfielder Nadiem Amiri said in comments reported by German agency dpa. “The times have simply changed. Everyone’s good, everyone can hold their own. For us it’s just important to win. We need win after win.”

The qualifying format — a four-team group where only the winner qualifies automatically — means Germany must win each of its remaining games unless Slovakia slips up, and get ahead of Slovakia on goal difference too. Second place would put Germany into a bracket of four teams competing for one spot early next year.

Making history the wrong way

If Germany did fail to make it to the expanded, 48-team World Cup, it would be a historic shock.

Until its loss in Slovakia last month, Germany had never lost a World Cup qualifying game away from home. The only times it’s missed the men’s World Cup were the inaugural 13-team 1930 event, which it skipped along with most of Europe, and 1950, when it was excluded following World War II.

Of course, even when it has qualified, Germany hasn’t always produced the goods.

Group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022 were huge disappointments for a team which had top-class individual players but didn’t seem to gel as a team. A goose-themed motivational talk by then-coach Hansi Flick at the 2022 World Cup fell flat and seemed to typify the lack of enthusiasm.

That all means Germany hasn’t played a World Cup knockout game since winning the 2014 final.

Overcoming injuries

Germany’s qualification fight has been made harder by injuries.

Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen would be first-choice goalkeeper if fit but hasn’t played all year, while Real Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger is out with a muscle injury and Bayern Munich’s attacking midfield star Jamal Musiala likely won’t return until the new year.

Nagelsmann seems intent on forging a partnership between Florian Wirtz and Newcastle’s Nick Woltemade, but Wirtz has yet to find his best form since his Liverpool move and Woltemade has had a flu-like illness this week. That meant the tall striker was training separately Wednesday.

There’s extra attention on new player Nathaniel Brown, a left back from Eintracht Frankurt who would also be eligible for the United States. Brown faces the challenge of doing better than his Frankfurt teammate Nnamdi Collins, who was dropped after costly errors on debut in the Slovakia loss.

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