Bayern teenager Lennart Karl ruled out of World Cup after thigh injury, replaced by Ouédraogo

Injury confirmed in Chicago

Karl's World Cup debut, which had looked close to a formality, is now off before the tournament has even started for the young attacker. He had made his senior Germany debut on 27 March in a 4-3 match against Switzerland, came off the bench three days later in a 2-1 win over Ghana, and then made his first start in attack in a 4-0 victory against Finland in Mainz — a performance that had made him a strong candidate for a place in the starting eleven at Soldier Field.

For Nagelsmann, who is 38, the loss is a personal as well as a tactical blow. He described his reaction in a statement released by the DFB: 'Es tut mir wahnsinnig leid für Lenny. Er hat mit seiner Unbekümmertheit, seinem Spielwitz, seinem Tempo und als Typ super in die Mannschaft gepasst. Es ist für ihn und uns alle ein großer Schock, dass er die WM verpasst. Es ist nur ein kleiner Trost, dass er jung ist und noch viele Turniere vor sich hat. Wir hätten ihn sehr gerne im Team gehabt.'

Nagelsmann calls up Ouédraogo

The coach moved quickly to fill the gap. RB Leipzig's Assan Ouédraogo, a 20-year-old who made his senior Germany debut in November with a goal in a 6-0 win over Slovakia in the final World Cup qualifier, was added to the 26-player squad. Nagelsmann framed the call-up in terms that deliberately echoed Karl's brief international career. 'Mit Assan Ouédraogo bekommen wir nun einen Spieler dazu, der ähnlich wie Lenny einen klasse Einstand bei uns hatte. Er ist ebenfalls hoch talentiert und soll hier mutig und unbeschwert aufspielen.'

Ouédraogo arrives with a youth résumé that few of his peers can match. In 2023 he was a U-17 World Champion and European Champion, a tournament the German Football Association frequently references when projecting the next generation of national-team players. A knee injury interrupted his club momentum shortly after that November debut, but he made his competitive comeback roughly two months ago, and Nagelsmann clearly believes he is now ready to step into Karl's shoes.

Broader squad concerns ahead of the test match

Karl is not the only Bayern player whose tournament has been disrupted. Serge Gnabry, another Bayern Munich professional, had already withdrawn from World Cup contention because of a muscle tendon injury, leaving the German squad with two notable absences from the reigning Bundesliga champions. The parallels to past German misfortune are already being drawn: Marco Reus, then of Borussia Dortmund, missed the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after suffering an ankle injury in Germany's final pre-tournament test.

The broader backdrop is a high-stakes dress rehearsal. Germany faces co-host the United States on Saturday at 20:30 local time at Soldier Field, with the match televised by RTL and officially sold out. It is the last opportunity for Nagelsmann to fine-tune his starting eleven before the opening group fixture on 14 June in Houston against Curaçao.

Neuer to miss dress rehearsal

In goal, the picture is steadier than the headlines suggest. Manuel Neuer, the 40-year-old who won the World Cup in 2014, is not in line to feature in Chicago. He missed the final training session as he continues to recover from a calf injury sustained three weeks ago. Nagelsmann has been at pains to stress, however, that Neuer is expected to be fully fit for the first group match and will resume team training next week. Oliver Baumann is set to start in goal at Soldier Field in Neuer's absence.

Nagelsmann's options for further changes, if required, are constrained by FIFA rules. According to the statutes, the head coach may replace injured outfield players in his squad up to one day before Germany's opening match on 14 June. Should the diagnosis force another reshuffle, the report names Said El Mala of 1. FC Köln and Chris Führich of VfB Stuttgart as candidates under discussion.

FIFA rules and replacement options

For Karl, the immediate future is one of rehabilitation rather than a seat on the team plane. The DFB has not put a timeline on his return, but the tone of Nagelsmann's remarks underlined that the door to future tournaments remains firmly open, even if this one has closed before it began. Ouédraogo, meanwhile, will travel to Germany's World Cup base in Winston-Salem in the coming days and join the squad that Nagelsmann hopes can mount a serious challenge in America.

The injury also sharpens the spotlight on a broader question that has hovered over Nagelsmann's tenure: how to balance emerging talent against the muscle memory of a squad that reached the knockout rounds of recent major tournaments. Karl's three senior caps, all earned inside a single international window, had made him the symbol of a youthful refresh; his absence forces the coach to lean, at least in the opening phase of the tournament, on the experienced core around him.