Report: Munich's Karl to get first Germany call-up but Musiala rested
Bayern Munich's Lennart Karl in action during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Bayern Munich and Borussia Moenchengladbach at Allianz Arena. Harry Langer/dpa Teenager Lennart Karl will reportedly get his first call-up into the German national team on Thursday for upcoming World Cup tune-up matches which Bayern Munich team-mate Jamal Musiala will miss. The Bild paper said on Wednesday that attacking midfielder Karl would be part of coach Julian Nagelsmann's 26-player squad for the games on March 27 in Basel against Switzerland and in Stuttgart against Ghana three days later.
Bild also said that Musiala would not be picked to give him time to recover from a pain reaction last week in his left leg which he severely injured in July and had him sidelined until January. The report said the decision was taken as a precaution in close cooperation with Bayern and doctors. Bayern coach Vincent Kompany had said on Tuesday that he would contact Nagelsmann to discuss Musiala before the nomination.
He said getting the 23-year-old back to full health was in the best interest of club and country, looking ahead at Bayern's tasks and the World Cup. Karl meanwhile has seven goals and four assists for Bayern this season and has become the youngest German to score in the Champions League. He also had three goals in his last two German under-21 team appearances.
There had already been speculation that Karl would be picked for the last World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Slovakia in November but that did not happen. Karl, 18, is considered one of Germany's brightest talents and a contender for a place in the World Cup squad. Nagelsmann has said that the March squad and that for the World Cup would be quite similar.
Germany will play debutants Curacao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador in the group stage of the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.