Spain, France and Brazil are World Cup favourites, not Germany: 1990 winner Karl-Heinz Riedle

Die Mannschaft are sweating over form and fitness issues of key players such as Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SINGAPORE – With just one fewer World Cup triumph than record five-time winners Brazil, Germany have long been regarded as perennial favourites, especially since they have reached at least the quarter-finals from their first title in 1954 right up to their last triumph in 2014.

Following back-to-back group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022, however, expectations have dulled and even their own countrymen have lost a measure of faith.

Among those who believe Die Mannschaft will not hit the heights at the 2026 showpiece in North America is former striker Karl-Heinz Riedle, a member of their 1990 World Cup-winning team.

The 60-year-old was in town over the weekend for meet-and-greet sessions at Our Tampines Hub on March 6 and the German European School Singapore on March 7 at the invitation of his former club Borussia Dortmund’s Singapore office.

While Riedle, who also played for English sides Liverpool and Fulham, believes Germany’s grouping with Curacao, Ivory Coast and Ecuador at the quadrennial augurs well, he tipped Spain, France and Brazil as favourites, and left his home country out of the reckoning.

He told The Straits Times: “It is a group Germany definitely should survive. If we can’t survive, that would be a really big blow for Germany. We did very badly at two World Cups, so hopefully with this new team and young players, they can have quite a good World Cup for us.