Scorer of the goal against Spain that left Germany in a less desperate situation for the final round of the group stage of the Qatar Cup, striker Niclas Füllkrug, 29, did not plan to play in his first World Cup.
Nicknamed Lacuna, due to a hole he has between his upper teeth, he filled the last minute gap created in the German squad due to striker Timo Werner’s ankle injury.
Earlier this month, when announcing the 26-man squad for the Qatar Cup, coach Hansi Flick included Füllkrug’s name.
Nobody expected, not even himself, that in ten years of professionalism he had never been called up to the main team of his country.
With that choice, Flick put in the group a big guy of 1.89 m who doesn’t have much ability and who doesn’t have a single title under his belt.
Area striker, with mostly mediocre career and always within the borders of Germany, he had in his favor the fact that he was going through a great moment in his career.
Defending the middling Werder Bremen, ninth in the German Championship and who returned to the national elite this season, he is the runner-up in the competition, with 10 goals in 14 games.
Called up to fill the hole in his country’s national team, Füllkrug lived up to the opportunity.
In Germany’s only friendly before the debut in the Qatari Cup, on the 16th of this month against Oman, he entered the break and scored the only goal of the match.
It wasn’t enough to get him in the starting line-up, but he gained credit, so much so that Flick put him on the field in the second half against Japan (Havertz left), when he couldn’t avoid defeat, and against Spain (Thomas Müller left), when his star shone.
Thus, in three games for Germany, with total time on the field less than 90 minutes, Füllkrug scored two goals.
It may not have been enough to convince the coach that he should start, but efficiency is an asset, which increases the chance of him returning to the field in Germany’s decisive game for Group E, on Thursday (1st), against Costa Rica.
The Germans are bottom of the group (1 point), behind Spaniards, Tunisians (both 4 points) and Costa Ricans (3 points).
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