Germany’s final 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup was always going to see a big name miss out but nobody could have expected it would be Leroy Sane who would be the omission and the winger’s club teammate, Kyle Walker, has posted of his incredulity on Twitter.
Sane, despite scoring 14 times and assisting 17 strikes for Manchester City over the course of the 2017-18 season, didn’t make the cut for Joachim Loew’s final squad for Russia.
When you find out @LeroySane19 isn’t going to the World Cup 😧 pic.twitter.com/0IV3VVahXX
— Kyle Walker (@kylewalker2) June 4, 2018
Julian Brandt and Marco Reus, despite having middling seasons in comparison to Sane, were preferred over the City winger and Walker’s sentiments were echoed by scores of football fans.
While not in direct competition, even misfiring Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil made the cut ahead of Sane.
Of course, Walker can be excused for being biased but the fact that he’s seen the German winger up close for the past 10-odd months, in which they won the Premier League and the Carabao Cup both, obviously counts for something.
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The four-time world champions and triple European champions still have a great squad, however, and remain favourites to lift the quadrennial showpiece in the summer.
The final 23-man squad for the #WorldCup 🇩🇪#DieMannschaft #ZSMMN pic.twitter.com/SOJa14wIOD
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 4, 2018
The defending champions have been drawn in Group F, along with Sweden, South Korea and Mexico.
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Loew’s men have one final warm-up tie, against Saudi Arabia on June 7, left before they kick start their World Cup campaign with a June 17 tie against Mexico.
Custodian Manuel Neuer will be captaining the Germans at the World Cup, Loew confirmed on Monday.