Moukoko is one of two new faces in Hansi Flick’s 26-man squad for the finals. The 17-year-old forward has been enjoying regular football with Borussia Dortmund this season, scoring six goals and providing six assists in 22 appearances in all competitions. Niclas Füllkrug – a more traditional centre-forward – was also called up for the first time – reward for his 10 goals in 14 Bundesliga games for promoted Werder Bremen.
Meanwhile, Mario Götze returned to action some five years since he last played for his country and eight years after scoring the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final when Flick was assistant coach to Joachim Löw. All three are expected to feature as Germany fine-tune their preparations ahead of their Group E opener against Japan on November 23.
Captain Manuel Neuer and 19-year-old Jamal Musiala – who has been involved in more goals than any player in this season’s Bundesliga – are among seven Bayern Munich players at Flick’s disposal. However, Dortmund’s Marco Reus and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner were not included in the ex-Bayern tactician’s squad due to injury.
Facing the Bundesliga’s best players presents a huge task for Oman, who are some 64 places below Germany in the FIFA world rankings and have never featured in a World Cup. The Gulf team reached the third round of qualifying for 2022, holding Australia to a 2-2 draw in the selection of their results, but ended up falling behind in a group that also included Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Head coach Branko Ivanković has since overseen wins over Nepal and Iraq, a draw with New Zealand and a loss to Jordan. He was assistant coach when Croatia beat Germany en route to third place at the 1998 World Cup and guided Iran to the 2006 final on German soil, either side of a 21-match spell in charge of Bundesliga 2 club Hannover in 1990/2000 .
Striker Khalid Al-Hajri is unavailable, while 29-goal veteran Abdul Aziz Al-Muqbali has not been selected to play for his country all year. The game will be played at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat, Oman. Germany won the nations’ only previous meeting – a friendly in 1998 – 2-0.
Probable teams
Oman: Al-Mukhaini (c) – Al-Harthi, Al-Khamisi, Al-Habsi, Al-Kaabi – Al-Saadi – Al-Yahmadi, Al-Alawi, Al-Yahyaei – Al-Aghbari, Al-Ghassani
Out: Al-Hajri (knee)
Doubtful: –
Coach: Branko Ivankovic
Germany: Neuer (c) – Kehrer, Süle, Schlotterbeck, Raum – Kimmich, Goretzka – Hofmann, Musiala, Sane – Gnabry
Out: Müller (groin), Rüdiger (hip)
Doubtful: ter Stegen (stomach bug)
Coach: Hansi Flick
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