FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Nations League - Quarter Final - Second Leg - Germany v Italy - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - March 23, 2025 Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann before the match REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler/File Photo
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann on Thursday named newcomers Nick Woltemade and Tom Bischof in the squad for next month's Nations League final four.
VfB Stuttgart forward Woltemade, preparing for the German Cup final this week, and new Bayern Munich signing Bischof, a midfielder, were included in a 26-man squad ahead of their semi-final against Portugal on June 4 in Munich.
Germany are without Kai Havertz, who has only just returned from hamstring surgery for Arsenal, and the injured Jamal Musiala, Antonio Ruediger, Tim Kleindienst and Nico Schlotterbeck.
France and Spain meet in the other Nations League semi on June 5 ahead of the final in the Bavarian capital three days later.
Nagelsmann also included fit-again Florian Wirtz, Waldemar Anton, Aleksandar Pavlovic and Niclas Fuellkrug, as the four-times world champions aim for a successful dress rehearsal ahead of next year's World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"Nick (Woltemade) is a good option in attack especially with the absence of Kleindienst. If we reach our top level then we can beat Portugal," Nagelsmann said in a German FA interview.
"That is our goal. We will do everything possible to reach the final. We want to play the final in Munich."
Germany, who last won the World Cup in 2014, have been eliminated in the group stage of the past two World Cups.
Germany's World Cup qualifiers start in September with a match against Slovakia in Bratislava.
Nagelsmann took over in September 2023 and led Germany to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals on home soil before extending his initial contract, which ran until 2026, by two years in January.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
