Germany Should Test Full-Strength Lineup in Friendly vs. Hungary

Germany will play their second and final warm-up match before Euro 2016 on Saturday against Hungary in Schalke’s Veltins Arena. Time will tell if choosing another relatively weak opponent before the tournament was the right choice, after the World Cup holders lost 3-1 to Slovakia on Sunday.

Without a true test before the first kick-off in France, a bit of uncertainty will remain regardless of the result against the Hungarians.

The preparations for the Euros have been a bumpy ride so far for Joachim Low and his team. Key players such as Mats Hummels haven’t been able to train, while Lukas Podolski and Toni Kroos only joined the team this week after winning silverware with Galatasaray and Real Madrid, respectively.

The team lost Marco Reus in shocking news, a groin injury robbing the 27-year-old of another tournament after he already missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil with a torn ligament in his ankle. “The medical staff could not give a clear prognosis for Marco,” Low said, per Sam Morshead of MailOnline. “He has massive injury problems and the medical staff was very sceptical about his ability to last through the coming weeks and such a gruelling tournament. It is a bitter decision and bitter for Marco.”

Reus was largely considered a lock to start on the left wing for Germany, and his loss is notable, but Low has enough options to cover for it.

Alongside the Borussia Dortmund man, Hoffenheim’s Sebastian Rudy and Bayer Leverkusen duo Julian Brandt and Karim Bellarabi got the axe on Tuesday. Of those three, Rudy was arguably the biggest surprise, seeing as he had done better at right-back or right-wing-back than Liverpool’s Emre Can for the national team after the World Cup.

Their loss was the gain of three young players who few would have predicted would all make it into the final 23-man squad for the Euros: Joshua Kimmich and Julian Weigl only debuted against Slovakia but must have impressed on the training ground, while Leroy Sane also made the cut.

Low could be inclined to give the young guns another run against Hungary, but he’d do well to use the game as a dress rehearsal for the Euros: Germany should play with a full-strength lineup.

It’d be a risk to travel to France and assume that one final week of training will be enough to get the team to play at a high level. Having lost four of their last six matches, Germany aren’t exactly in sync at the moment. 

With …

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