Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – Joachim Löw won an important victory even before the start of the World Cup qualification and received a last-minute go for his England quintet.
One day before the planned nomination by the national coach, the Duisburg health department announced that the national soccer players employed in the Premier League had an entry permit. According to a press release from the German Football Association, “in accordance with the currently valid Corona entry regulations in North Rhine-Westphalia” there would be “approval for entry”.
Löw can therefore nominate Ilkay Gündogan from Manchester City, the Chelsea trio Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Antonio Rüdiger and possibly also substitute goalkeeper Bernd Leno from Arsenal on Friday. March against Iceland and on March 31st against North Macedonia in Duisburg.
“This approval, however, is tied to extremely strict additional requirements imposed by the German Football Association (DFB),” said the association. For example, the actors within the DFB bubble have to remain isolated again. “This also includes, for example, the processes around meals, so that outside of the actual game, training and team meetings there is no contact between these players and other people,” said the DFB. Icelanders playing in England are also allowed to play in Duisburg.
The news should be received with great relief. “Of course I would be disappointed,” said Gündogan, who has been in top form for weeks, on the ARD talk show “maischberger.die woche” about the impending compulsory waiver.
Shortly before Löw nominated the squad on Friday afternoon, the DFB’s discussions with the health authorities ran under high pressure behind the scenes. “The status was that they could not play in Germany and that it was actually pointless to let them enter the country. But we are in good talks with the health department in Düsseldorf and Duisburg as the venue, ”DFB director Oliver Bierhoff said shortly before the decision at a DFB digital media talk on Thursday.
Because of the regulations in the corona pandemic, the five should have been quarantined after entering from England. “To this day I still don’t know. I have no choice but to wait and be patient, ”said Gündogan and was rewarded for his patience. The DFB pointed out that it was not about a special regulation for the professionals. “The regulation generally provides for a special permit for people coming from Great Britain to exercise their profession. It does not only refer to the upcoming home games in the context of World Cup qualification. “
Moving the games abroad to solve the problem elegantly was out of the question for the DFB. “The coaches said we’d follow the rules. We are not considering going abroad for an international match that is to be played in Germany. And if necessary, you would play without the England legionnaires, ”said Bierhoff.
Several Champions League games, including the encounters between RB Leipzig against Liverpool FC and Borussia Mönchengladbach against Gündogans Citizens, were recently moved to Budapest to circumvent Corona regulations. The UK is currently counted as a virus variant area.
Between the games in Duisburg, the national team will face Romania in Bucharest on March 28th. Löw has rejected the idea of having the England professionals flown in just for the game in Bucharest. The international triple pack marks the start of qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
For Löw, these are the first games after he announced his departure for the time after the EM in the summer. They are also the last opportunity for the national coach to test personnel before the EM squad nomination in May. The national coach has definitely ruled out a comeback for Mats Hummels (32), Thomas Müller (31) and Jérome Boateng (32), who were eliminated two years ago. In the expected XXL squad, however, there will be teenagers Jamal Musiala (18) from FC Bayern Munich and Florian Wirtz (17) from Bayer Leverkusen.
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