It only happened very quickly earlier - when the squad of a German national team was simply displayed in the ARD sports show or in the ZDF “Current Sports Studio”.

Maybe it would not be a bad idea to ground the whole thing a bit again, but the effects of the corona pandemic at least curbed the German Football Association (DFB) when they announced their bid for the European Championship.

Oversized and symbolic shows like the ones before the EM 2008 on the Zugspitze are not possible at the moment, but this time the often propagated closeness to the fans with an invitation for 6500 users in the virtual room, who were then allowed to ask enthusiastic questions in the chat.

Peter Penders

Deputy Editor in Charge of Sports.

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    "Today the DFB is talking about football for once," said press spokesman Jens Grittner, still unusually self-deprecating, and after a little commercial about the stressful work of the coaching team, things almost started.

    The most important news had been known to everyone interested in football for days, if not weeks, and now it has finally been confirmed: Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels will of course be there and will return to the national team.

    "In some games the experience has been missing recently," said Löw, explaining his rethinking.

    Without Boateng, Draxler and Brandt

    What else? From the disaster of the 2018 World Cup, the coaching staff, which has analyzed everything again in recent months, actually drew the right conclusions. You have to take every game for yourself, you shouldn't make the second before the first step, said Löw. Who has already forgotten that? Among many others, that was one of the biggest mistakes when planning the surprisingly short World Cup trip through Russia. This time, however, it is easier to think from game to game: The European Championship starts with the game against world champions France, then the game against European champions Portugal follows - the early thought forbids the third preliminary round opponent Hungary from the outset.

    Joachim Löw incorporated a few interesting personalities in his last job as national coach, without causing such big waves as the waiver of Leroy Sané (whom the national coach still insistently pronounces "cream") before the World Cup three years ago. As expected, Julian Brandt from Dortmund and Julian Draxler from Paris are not there, as is Jerome Boateng.

    The Freiburg full-back Christian Günter is allowed to participate and will meet his former colleague Robin Koch (meanwhile Leeds United) again. And one is returning to the national team who said last year that he would no longer expect it. For Kevin Volland, the move from Bayer Leverkusen to AS Monaco has paid off - after scoring 16 goals this season in France, the striker is back for the first time since 2016. The 18-year-old Jamal Musiala also made the leap into the squad, which was to be expected because Löw had tried very hard to ensure that the midfielder of FC Bayern Munich would choose Germany and not England.

    Florian Wirtz didn't have to - the 18-year-old from Leverkusen is not at the EM. Because of the effects (and also the dangers) of the corona pandemic, the national coaches are allowed to nominate 26 instead of the usual 23 players. Toni Kroos from the current line-up currently has to pass due to an infection with the corona virus.

    The fact that the DFB has actually learned from one or the other communication disaster of the past became apparent in the case of Marco Reus "after a complicated, exhausting season" on Tuesday evening in consultation with Löw who declared that he would not participate in the European Championship.

    "Of course we would have liked to have him with us," said Löw, without explicitly emphasizing that he would have nominated him as well.

    Löw emphasized that it is now important to control the load after a long season - and the fire for the EM should be kindled in the training camp.

    However, as is well known, that went wrong before the last tournament.

    Perhaps it helps that the preparation time is now fairly short.

    The squad of the German national team for the European Football Championship from June 11th to July 11th.

    Goalkeepers:

     Bernd Leno (Arsenal FC), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Kevin Trapp (Eintracht Frankfurt)

    Defense:

    Matthias Ginter (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Robin Gosens (Atalanta Bergamo), Christian Günter (SC Freiburg), Marcel Halstenberg (RB Leipzig), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Robin Koch (Leeds United), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig) , Antonio Rüdiger (FC Chelsea), Niklas Süle (FC Bayern Munich)

    Midfield:

    Emre Can (Borussia Dortmund), Leon Goretzka (FC Bayern Munich), Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City), Kai Havertz (FC Chelsea), Jonas Hofmann (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern Munich), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern Munich), Jamal Musiala (FC Bayern Munich), Florian Neuhaus (Borussia Mönchengladbach)

    Attack:

    Serge Gnabry (FC Bayern Munich), Leroy Sané (FC Bayern Munich), Kevin Volland (AS Monaco), Timo Werner (FC Chelsea)