Germany face Ecuador in final group match – Nagelsmann plans rotation

At the center of German attention is John Yeboah Zamora. The 26-year-old, born in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, with an Ecuadorian mother and a Ghanaian father, has played for "La Tri" since 2024 and has earned 25 caps for Ecuador. "Danke an Gott, dass er mit die Gelegenheit gegeben hat, mit den Jungs zusammen zu sein und einen Traum gemeinsam wahr werden zu lassen", Yeboah wrote on Instagram on his birthday on Tuesday, and announced: "We will give everything".

John Yeboah: from a cinder pitch in Wilhelmsburg to La Tri

Yeboah began playing football at FC Türkiye in Wilhelmsburg on a cinder pitch. Youth coach Benjamin Hübbe recalled: "Als ich ihn zum ersten Mal sah, habe ich sofort gesagt: Das ist ein überragende Junge". At 15 he moved to VfL Wolfsburg, made his Bundesliga debut at 18 under coach Bruno Labbadia, and was subsequently loaned out to MSV Duisburg and to the Netherlands. After his Wolfsburg contract expired in 2022, he played in Poland for Śląsk Wrocław and Raków Częstochowa before moving to FC Venedig in Italy, where he recently celebrated promotion to Serie A.

Although he earned 30 caps across Germany's youth teams from the U16s to the U20s, Yeboah opted for Ecuador. Both HSV and FC St. Pauli had also tried to sign him, but without lasting interest.

Rotation and personnel questions for the DFB

A rotation is taking shape in the German squad. Antonio Rüdiger is expected to replace the injured Nico Schlotterbeck at centre-back. Deniz Undav, who has scored nine goals in eleven internationals and found the net against the Ivory Coast, could be in line for a starting berth. Nick Woltemade, the 24-year-old striker at Newcastle United, is still waiting for his World Cup appearance after playing only 17 minutes in the last warm-up against Finland. DFB sporting director Rudi Völler said of him: "Er kommt aus keiner guten Phase".

Woltemade stressed: "Das Turnier ist hoffentlich noch lang für uns. Ich arbeite hart für meine Chance". Jamie Leweling, who came on against the Ivory Coast in the 60th minute, also struck a combative tone: "Wir haben noch ein paar Spieler, die natürlich heiß sind auf ihren Einsatz. Und wenn sie reinkommen oder von Anfang an spielen, werden sie ihr Bestes geben und Deutschland eine Freude machen". He also defended teammate Leroy Sané: "Wir sollten froh sein, dass er für uns spielt und Leistung bringt. Vor vier Jahren habe ich zu ihm aufgeschaut, jetzt bin ich sein Konkurrent".

Pitch conditions and the wider setting

Conditions at the East Rutherford stadium are meanwhile not without controversy. Vinícius Júnior described the pitch as "schwer bespielbar", while France's Adrien Rabiot found it "künstlich". Nadiem Amiri was unfazed: "Auch wenn der Platz mal nicht so gut ist, werden wir das hinbekommen". The midfielder added: "Wir müssen im Rhythmus bleiben, jeder Sieg ist gut für uns".

Off the pitch, the German players are passing the waiting time. Woltemade and Kai Havertz play badminton together in their free time. Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Rüdiger, Sané and Malick Thiaw meet regularly for intense rounds of the card game UNO at the team hotel.

The DFB squad holds its final training session on Thursday at 10:30 local time (16:30 CEST) and travels to New York four and a half hours later. The final pre-match press conference with Nagelsmann and Undav takes place at 19:45 local time (01:45 CEST). The match will be broadcast live on Das Erste and on sportschau.de.

The fixture is only the second match played by a German national team in New York. In 1994, the DFB side lost 1:2 to Bulgaria in the World Cup quarter-final at Giants Stadium. Brazil, incidentally, is the most recent world champion to win all of their group-stage games – at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.