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Joachim Low has said that he will change things around against England, most notably in goal, where it seems Roman Weidenfeller will earn his first cap for his country.
Manuel Neuer has been Germany’s number one for four years, appearing 44 times for his country, but with the match against England the last before Low has to pick his squad for Brazil, the German is experimenting with his line-up.
Weidenfeller will become Germany’s oldest ever debutant should he feature at Wembley on Tuesday evening but he said it will not faze him.
“Just being called up made so much come true for me,” Weidenfeller told Sky Sports. “I’ve been accepted really well and feel really good here.
“I wanted to experience what it’s like to be within this group and smell the national team air, and that’s what I’m experiencing now.
“This already means a lot to me, and we’ll just have to see what else comes.”
Weidenfeller has been at Borussia Dortmund for 11 years and has kept three clean sheets in 11 Bundesliga matches this season. The German is Dortmund’s captain and a huge reason as to why they have been so successful in recent years. He leads from the back, making stunning saves and racing from him line to grab the ball like he’s magnetised it.
He gives the likes of Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels confidence with his authoritative and commanding presence, proven by his 100% claim success rate this season and 89% success rate last season.
His distribution is consistent, too, having achieved a 72% success rate for kicks and throws so far this season as well as the whole of last season.
Weidenfeller is an accomplished goalkeeper at the top of his game and would be his country’s number one goalkeeper if it were not for Germany’s incredible depth of talent in between the sticks.
Neuer, Weidenfeller, Marc ter Stegen, Rene Adler and Ron-Robert Zieler would be number one for most countries around the world so its clear to see the competition each ‘keeper has. Weidenfeller is, arguably, the second best out of that list – behind Neuer – but age is not on his side.
Tuesday evening’s match may be his one and only cap for Germany unless Neuer sustains an injury ahead of the World Cup.
Weidenfeller averaged 1.81 saves per game in the Bundesliga last season, and is currently averaging 1.64. Due to Dortmund’s consistent performances, Weidenfeller is often left a lonely man without much to do which show in his saves per game figures. His saves per goal are something we should look at, though. This season, Weidenfeller makes 1.64 saves for every goal he concedes; last season that figure stood at 1.56 as Dortmund lost their grip on the German league title to an unstoppable Bayern Munich.
Should Low plump for Weidenfeller, which is likely, he will have earned it. He has consistently performed well for Dortmund and deserves more caps. He would have had them too if it were not for the imperious Manuel Neuer.
England will have a hard task scoring past Dortmund’s stopper at Wembley.
