Julian Nagelsmann began March telling kicker that belief can be sparked in as few as two matches. After victories over Switzerland and Ghana, his players look like they might have found some of that self-assurance.
The Switzerland game showed Germany can still win an entertaining, high-scoring contest even while carrying defensive frailties. With creative attackers such as Florian Wirtz, conceding a goal or two no longer feels fatal.
In Stuttgart the challenge was more attritional. Ghana — 72nd in the world and visibly out of sync — tested Germany’s patience rather than their resilience. Rain, a raft of substitutions and an uneven opponent produced a choppy affair, with reward only arriving in the late minutes of each half. Kai Havertz calmly converted a penalty in first-half stoppage time after two failed powerplays to break the deadlock. Ghana’s Abdul Fatawu produced their clearest moment by pulling one back, but Deniz Undav’s late finish clinched a 2-1 win.
Undav said afterwards that securing the three points was the only acceptable outcome. Nagelsmann argued the team had been tactically disciplined in the first half, then grew impatient as the game wore on, drifting out of position and exposing themselves to counterattacks. Still, he judged the performance in Stuttgart to be an improvement on the Switzerland display.
For a team with the World Cup two and a half months away, learning to grind out wins in messy fixtures is valuable. Germany were rarely seriously threatened, but navigating a disjointed match under pressure will help sharpen their mentality.
Off the field, the game reinforced the coach’s and captain Joshua Kimmich’s recent insistence on collective strength over individual flash. After being jeered, Leroy Sané responded on the pitch by supplying the decisive assist with a courageous header — a moment that underlined growing team unity. A clearer core of starters is emerging and competition for places is intensifying.
Left-back Nathaniel Brown caught the eye, though one strong hour won’t settle a longer-term selection debate. Bayern youth prospect Lennart Karl featured across the two friendlies for a total of 72 minutes and showed glimpses of the kind of impact that could earn him more opportunities.
Attack selection remains a central dilemma for Nagelsmann. Kai Havertz’s return from injury adds another option to a forward line that already includes the struggling Nick Woltemade and the in-form, popular Undav. Woltemade squandered a first-half chance and rattled the bar later on; Undav, brought off the bench, timed his run perfectly and showed the instincts in the box that produced the winner. He suggested his role for the team might evolve after such goals, although Nagelsmann appears willing to keep him as an impact substitute for the moment.
Ultimately the definitive answers will arrive when Germany’s 26-man squad travels to Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer. For now, two victories in March are a useful confidence injection. Whether this group truly believes it can win the World Cup remains to be seen, but they are certainly in a better place than a year ago — and that kind of momentum, built in the spring before a major tournament, is precisely what teams want.