Germany’s Young Star Lennart Karl May Miss World Cup After Injury In Training

Germany’s 18-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl may miss the World Cup after he was sent to the hospital for scans following an unspecified injury in training on Friday.

Karl is considered one of the top young players in any World Cup squad after a breakout season with Bayern Munich, for which he became the club’s youngest ever goal-scorer in the Champions League.

“Unfortunately Lenni injured himself today in training. We need to wait on what happens with that and to be honest, it didn’t look so good,” Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann said ahead of his team’s final World Cup tune-up against the United States on Saturday.

“He needs to process the situation, we do too, and we’ll see what we do. We need a diagnosis for that and then we’ll inform you. Then we’ll see if we can hopefully keep going with him for the tournament or if I need to nominate a replacement.”

World Cup rules allow Nagelsmann to call up a replacement player in cases of “serious injury or illness” until 24 hours before the kickoff of Germany’s opening game. That’s June 14 against World Cup newcomer Curacao.

Karl made his debut for Germany in March to continue a rapid rise to prominence and has played three games for the national team, including a key role as a starter in last week’s 4-0 win over Finland.

Nagelsmann also said on Friday he would not risk 40-year-old goalkeeper Manuel Neuer against the U.S. because of continuing concerns over a calf injury he picked up at Bayern last month.

That means Neuer will go into the World Cup having not played for Germany in almost two years. He retired from the national team after the 2024 European Championship but agreed to a recall last month.

Oliver Baumann has been Germany’s first choice for much of the time Neuer was away and also started against Finland last week.

Reporting by The Associated Press.