Soccer
Lennart Karl could miss the World Cup for Germany after suffering an injury that “does not look good”, according to Julian Nagelsmann.
Karl was a somewhat surprising inclusion in Nagelsmann’s squad, despite an impressive breakthrough season for Bayern Munich in 2025-26.
He also caught the eye in Germany’s last friendly, a 4-0 win over Finland, getting an assist for their second goal when he set up Deniz Undav.
The youngster registered 16 goal involvements in 39 games for Bayern in all competitions (nine goals, seven assists), helping the team to the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double.
However, Karl, who has three Germany caps to date, suffered an injury in training on Friday during preparations for their friendly against the United States.
And Nagelsmann admitted the 20-year-old’s tournament could already be over.
“Lenny was injured,” he said in Friday’s press conference. “We have to see what it is.
“It does not look good.
“We will go to the hospital to get scans calmly. Don’t start driving after him. Leave him alone. You’ll get the news. He needs to process the situation himself.
“We need a diagnosis first, and we will inform you whether we can hopefully continue with him or nominate someone else.”
Teams can name replacements due to injury up to 24 hours before their World Cup opener, with Germany beginning their tournament against Curacao on June 14.
Another injury concern is Manuel Neuer, who has come out of international retirement to appear at the tournament. He missed the end of Bayern’s season with a calf injury and has been training individually.
Nagelsmann remains confident the goalkeeper will be fit for their opening match in Group E but insists the match against the USA comes too soon for him.
“He’s doing well; he’s on his way to peak fitness,” Nagelsmann said of Neuer.
“Nevertheless, we won’t take any risks, but rather give the team more time to get back to normal and increase the likelihood that the tournament goes perfectly and nothing goes wrong.
“His calf has had a few injuries this year. That’s why we decided not to take any risks yet. He’ll join team training next week.
“When Manu got injured, we already knew it was possible it would happen the way it did. If I had a goalkeeper who was 22 years old, I would have more problems with the situation. Manu isn’t someone who needs a lot of test matches to get into a rhythm.”
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