Germany has suffered a big blow ahead of their World Cup opening match against Japan on Wednesday as their star winger Leroy Sane has been ruled out of the contest due to a knee injury, a team statement said on Tuesday confirmed.
The Bayern Munich winger did not take part in the team’s final training session in Qatar and it is still unclear for how long will he be out. Although Germany has a strong bench consisting of attacking wingers Gnabry and Musiala alongside returning Gotze, Sane’s injury will still come in handy for them.
Earlier, a few of their star players were nursing fitness or illness issues including striker Niclas Fullkrug and the duo of Thomas Muller and Antonio Rudiger, however, with them now returning to training, it is going to boost the camp’s confidence.
Ahead of their first match against Japan, which has a history of upsetting top teams, Germany will be wary of the challenge. These two teams are meeting for the first on the world cup stage, having previously met twice in friendly encounters – once in 2004 where Germany won 3-0, the second one being played two years later in 2006 where both teams scored two goals each.
Germany, who has won the coveted World Cup trophy four times, joint-most for a European nation (Italy being the other) is placed in Group E alongside Japan, Spain, and Costa Rica. While the Japan game is being played tomorrow, Germany will face Spain on Monday, November 28th, and Costa Rica on Friday, December 2nd.
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