Köpke is counting on Neuer for the World Cup: “Everything is according to plan”

Dortmund (SID) Federal goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke continues to firmly believe that captain Manuel Neuer (31), who has been injured for months, will be in goal for the German national soccer team at the World Cup in Russia (June 14th to July 15th). "I'm in contact with him, everything is going according to plan. I'm relaxed," said Köpke on Sunday on the ARD Sportschau. The 1996 European champion referred to the preparation for the 2014 World Cup, in the run-up to which Bayern keeper Neuer was also suffering from an injury (to his shoulder; editor). "Manu showed back then that he didn't need much effort. He was injured in the cup final and then barely trained until the start of the World Cup." Neuer will “still play games in the Bundesliga and Champions League this season, and then we still have the whole World Cup preparation,” said Köpke. “I am in good spirits and know that I will still play in the second half of the season,” said world champion Neuer in an interview with his club Bayern Munich’s television station at the end of January. Neuer suffered a broken metatarsal again in September. Since then, he has been well represented in the Bayern goal by Sven Ulreich (29), who extended his expiring contract until 2021 on Sunday. “He’s doing really well at the moment,” Köpke also praised the former Stuttgart player. However, the 55-year-old virtually ruled out Neuer and Ulreich being nominated for the World Cup at the same time. “I see that as problematic,” said Köpke on “WDR 2 Sonntag Live”: “But the fact is that Sven Ulreich is doing a really good job and that’s why he is in the national team’s sights. Not just in the event that Manuel Neuer is out, but also if another goalkeeper gets injured." However, Köpke explicitly gave the trio Marc-Andre ter Stegen (FC Barcelona), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen) and Kevin Trapp (Paris St. Germain) very good chances of being nominated for the World Cup. “90 percent” of them would be there if he “had to nominate today.”

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Köpke is counting on Neuer for the World Cup: “Everything is according to plan”

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