5 top teams looking for redemption after World Cup debacle

#2 Germany

The German team still does not look convincing

The terrible outing and the shameful Mesut Ozil affair have drawn out the pain of being the latest victim of the curse of the defending champions.

How Joachim Lowe has managed to keep his job while the likes of Fernando Hierro, Sampaoli and Jose Pekerman (Colombia) have resigned/been sacked is baffling. For a while after the 2014 World Cup win, Nationalmannschaft had looked staid, slow and lacked freshness and vigour.

The semi-final appearance at Euro 2016 added gloss to what was a pedestrian tournament. All these flaws were laid bare at the World Cup. Deserved defeats to Mexico and South Korea and a last-gasp win over Sweden saw the team exit the group stages with heads bent in shame.

A sea change in attitude and personnel was expected after that debacle. However, these changes may be a while in coming. There are very few new faces in the team that will face world champions France (UEFA Nations League) and Peru (friendly).

Manchester City’s Leroy Sane will make a return after being controversially dropped from the World Cup team. Timo Kehrer, Nico Schulz, and Bayer Leverkusen wunderkind Kai Havertz are the potential debutants in the squad.

📋 Here's Joachim #Löw's squad for our Nations League opener vs. France 🇩🇪🇫🇷 and friendly vs. Peru 🇩🇪🇵🇪#DieMannschaft #GERFRA #GERPER pic.twitter.com/nzlDB4GMKK

— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) August 29, 2018

It still, however, contains way too many of the under-performing World Cup stars (especially the Bayern Munich contingent). There has been little in the way of the “severe changes in personnel" that German FA (DFB) president Reinhard Grindel had promised.

The match against a very confident Les Bleus team is a tough test for a team as fragile as the Germans, a negative result could send them down the proverbial rabbit hole.