Germany vs Hungary | Highlights | UEFA Nations League | 8th September 2024 - video Dailymotion

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Germany vs Hungary | Highlights | UEFA Nations League | 8th September 2024

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00:002024 Euro was not just a historic tournament because Europe's nations played for the prestigious

00:05Henri Delaney Trophy for the first time in a unified Germany, but it also marked the

00:09end of an era for the national team.

00:12For Stalwarts Ilkay Gundogan, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos have now retired

00:17from international football, meaning Germany will look very different when they face Hungary

00:21in Saturday's Nations League opener, 1945 British summer time.

00:26The quartet have made a combined 451 appearances over the past decade and era including Die

00:31Mannschaft's World Cup win in 2014.

00:35But success has been sparse in recent times, with Germany failing to progress past the

00:39group stages twice in the last four major tournaments and losing to Spain in the Euro

00:432024 quarter-finals.

00:46After a miserable few years, Julian Nagelsmann's side showed glimpses of recovery in the summer

00:50but, with the old guard hanging up their boots, can his Nula team return to the top of the

00:54world game?

00:56Kroos and Gundogan served as key figures in Nagelsmann's midfield at the Euros, while

01:00Neuer kept his spot as starting goalkeeper.

01:04Although Kroos was 34 when the tournament started, he was Germany's midfield anchor

01:08and playmaker.

01:09The retirement of the six-time Champions League winner will create a hole that might be hard

01:14to fill.

01:15All four players were major leaders within the team, regardless of potentially slowing

01:19with age.

01:21It speaks for itself that Manchester City jumped at the opportunity to bring Gundogan

01:25back after his sudden departure from Barcelona last month.

01:29With Kroos, Muller and Neuer, the last members of the 2014 World Cup winning squad have exited

01:34the international stage, and Nagelsmann is tasked with not only building a new core on

01:38the field but also inside his dressing room.

01:41While Jamal Muziala and Florian Wurz are the next generation of outstanding attacking talents,

01:46they are by no means at a point where they will be fierce leaders any time soon.

01:51Right now, these two, just like Kai Havertz or Maximilian Bayer, impress first and foremost

01:56through their footballing abilities.

01:58Germany's Toni Kroos waves

02:01Image source – Getty Images

02:04Image caption – Toni Kroos retired after Euro 2024

02:09Joshua Kimmich has been chosen as the new captain, succeeding Gundogan and Neuer.

02:14While Kimmich has the makings of a leader, his promotion comes at a time when he almost

02:18seems past his peak.

02:20For the past two years he has struggled at Bayern Munich and with Germany, and coaches

02:24were trying to figure out if they would rather use him as a central midfielder or right-back.

02:29Bayern manager Vincent Kompany utilised Kimmich as a midfielder in the first two games of

02:34the Bundesliga season, but Nagelsmann could see more value in his being part of his backline.

02:39It is a difficult situation for a player to switch between positions constantly.

02:44Kimmich is known as an energetic, even overly eager, personality who does not take setbacks

02:49and losses lightly.

02:51In that sense, he might almost be a counterweight to younger players who seem like free spirits

02:55and enjoy expressing themselves on the pitch.

Germany vs Hungary | Highlights | UEFA Nations League | 8th September 2024

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