Mith great jubilation, Niclas Füllkrug celebrated his nomination for the World Cup in Qatar with fellow players and team managers from Werder Bremen. On Thursday, national coach Hansi Flick announced the squad and took into account the attacker, who has never played an international match for the senior national team.
The joy of his teammates Michael Zetterer and Leonardo Bittencourt, who captured the moment of the announcement on Instagram, was correspondingly great. Teammates and several supervisors jumped into Füllkrug’s arms, congratulated him and sang “Füllkrug is on fire”.
He also sees the appointment to the national team as a credit to his Bremen team. “It’s an award that not only hits me, but an award that should hit the whole club,” he said in a media round.
“I’m glad it turned out positively”
His participation in the tournament had been publicly demanded for weeks. Most recently, Horst Hrubesch spoke out in favor of the filling jug in the FAZ interview. “I’m just happy that it turned out positively and that I can experience such a positive experience,” he said. It is the greatest thing you can experience as a footballer. According to Füllkrug, it doesn’t happen that often that someone is nominated by a promoter. That speaks for the club from Bremen.
The attacker wants to get a feel for the team quickly and to support the DFB team on or off the pitch: “I haven’t planned to do much,” said Füllkrug, adding: “It’s about finding a role quickly, in I can help the team.”
Now it remains to be seen what role Flick wants to give him. “Niclas has ten goals, the momentum is on his side. He’s doing it very well,” said Flick in praise of Germany’s most successful goalscorer in the Bundesliga.
The DFB coach spoke to Werder coach Ole Werner for a long time. “It’s the feedback I got from Ole that he’s someone who’s always trying to improve. That he’s someone who always trusts the team that something is still possible,” said Flick.
“We are incredibly happy for him”
Füllkrug has been in excellent form lately and has repeatedly helped Bremen to score important points with goals in the closing minutes. There were no longer any major doubts about his participation in the controversial tournament in Qatar.
With his convincing performance, Füllkrug literally pushed his way into the squad. He has already been seen in the DFB dress for assignments in the German junior national teams, for the U-20 he completed nine international matches.
SV Werder congratulated his attacker on taking part in the World Cup. “Even if we take a critical view of many things about this tournament, you deserve the nomination. Congratulations, ‘Lücke’!” wrote the Bundesliga soccer club on Thursday. Professional football manager Clemens Fritz was also happy for Füllkrug: “He’s in top form and he simply deserves it. We are incredibly happy for him,” he told the “Bild”.
Werner can count on the services of the 29-year-old again in the last home game of this year on Saturday against RB Leipzig (3.30 p.m., in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky), who recently had to take a break due to a back injury.
