World Cup dream alive: two Bundesliga stars stake their claim | OneFootball

One scores like Gerd, the nation’s “Bomber” Müller, and the other keeps improving his impressive record. Both share the dream of participating in the 2026 World Cup, for which Germany recently managed to qualify.

Deniz Undav and Jonathan Burkardt had little to no part in that qualification, yet both can rightfully hope to fly across the pond with Nagelsmann’s squad next year and go hunting for goals for Germany at the World Cup in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. 

The two strikers were able to emphatically underline their ambitions for this dream yesterday. “Deniz deserves special praise today, he was outstanding. Not many have managed to score three goals in one half in Dortmund. That’s something special,” raved VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß on ‘Sky’ about his striker. 

Undav almost single-handedly led Stuttgart to a draw in Dortmund. Whether it was a spectacular backheel, quick reactions and sharp instincts as a poacher, or finishing with his back to goal while turning—everything just seemed to work for the 29-year-old against BVB. 

“The third goal was the nicest. A typical striker’s goal in Gerd Müller style: get the ball, stick your butt out, through the legs. Those are my favorite goals,” Undav explained to ‘Bild’. “World-class, the way I positioned my body and finished through the legs, I have to say,” he added with a wink. 

After recovering from a torn medial ligament in his knee, things have been going very well for him lately. Eight goal involvements in his last six competitive matches underline that. 

However, he didn’t want to see his brilliant performance as a signal to Julian Nagelsmann, who last called him up in June: “This game wasn’t an application,” said Undav regarding the World Cup next summer. “If I don’t score in the next three games, I’m a bad player again. I have to consistently perform and score goals.” Even though he played down the topic and wants to focus on upcoming tasks, his performance in Dortmund was definitely self-promotion—big time. 

However, among the many congratulators for his outstanding performance against Dortmund, there was no message from the national coach, as he revealed to ‘ntv’. He won’t need that until March anyway, for the next DFB training camp. As one of the most prolific German strikers, Undav will continue to be a topic for the national team. Just like Jonathan Burkardt, who was able to submit his next proof of performance in Eintracht’s Saturday evening match against 1. FC Köln. 

The 25-year-old was one of the main reasons why SGE was able to take three points from Cologne. He initiated the first of his two goals himself with a clever switch of play, and for the second he shook off Cologne’s Kristoffer Lund with a strong feint and finished to make it 4-1 at the time.

More important than the two goals for Burkardt, however, was the improvement in his own performance as the game went on: “The first half was one of the weakest I’ve played for Frankfurt. But then to keep my head up and believe I could still score and that the team could win the game—that’s what gives me the good feeling today. Not just the two goals,” the striker humbly told ‘Sky’. And yet, his brace puts him in second place on the top scorer list, behind Bayern’s goal machine Harry Kane.

Across all competitions, he already has twelve goal involvements in 16 games. It’s a record he wants to maintain and ideally improve, to stay on Nagelsmann’s radar, after he spent the last international break with the DFB team without getting any minutes. 

“I just try to do my best at the club. I try to do the best possible job, and if I’m needed, hopefully I’ll be there,” Burkardt stated regarding his goal for the national team.

The competition for Deniz Undav and Jonathan Burkardt is also set to become much more intense again. That’s because Tim Kleindienst and Niclas Füllkrug, already established center-forwards for the German national team, also celebrated their comebacks for their clubs yesterday. 

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 RONNY HARTMANN - AFP or licensors