Germany was saved by a striker nicknamed "The Slit". A year ago, Füllkrug scored in the Bundesliga-2

Germany drew with Spain (1:1): they conceded first, but Hansi Flick's substitutions leveled the game. Goal scored by Niklas Füllkrug, 29-year-old Werder striker. For Germany, this is the first goal from a substitute after Mario Götze's golden strike in the 2014 final.

Prior to the World Cup, Niklas had never been called up to the national team.

The Bundesteam's amazing problem with the specialized center forwards gave us football Cinderella story. But Füllkrug fully deserved a place in the team at the World Cup.

Fullkrug's career was spoiled for a long time by injuries. But now he is the best centre-forward in the Bundesliga

Fullkrug is a Werder graduate and loves the club very much. In 2006, when he turned 13, Niklas was selected to the academy. Then he got chances in the adult team, but due to the first serious melbet-azerbaycan.com cartilage damage and several more injuries, in the summer of 2014 he left for Nuremberg for 300 thousand euros.

Then there was Hannover . In the 2017/18 season, the Füllkrug was followed by the coaching staff of Joachim Löw, the striker scored 14 goals in the Bundesliga. But in the first 15 rounds of the 2018/19 season, Füllkrug only knocked out 2 1 on a goal a pass, and then flew out for 5 months due to cartilage in his right knee.

Chronic injury: because of this, he missed 5 months in the 2012/13 season (the second year in professional football), another 5 months at the junction of 2014/15 and 2015/16.

But that's not all. The fullkrug recovered by the end of the 2018/19 season, Hannover were relegated to the second Bundesliga, Niklas moved to Werder Bremen, made 2 1 in four rounds and tore the crosses and the meniscus on his left foot. Another 8.5 months past. In the 2020/21 season, Füllkrug was plagued by microdamages, and Werder were relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time in 40 years.

But the Bremen immediately returned, and Niklas himself formed an excellent bunch with another center forward Marvin Dücksch for two they scored 39 goals in a season. The Füllkrug calls Duksha the best partner he has ever played with.

Germany has enough targetmen, but almost all of them shine only in the second Bundesliga, where they easily score 15 goals in a season, but do not transfer performance to the top -division. Füllkrug is a rare example of a player of this type who succeeded in the first Bundesliga. This season he is the second scorer in the German league with 10 goals (only Nkunku has 12 more).

Among similar big forwards, Füllkrug clearly looks advantageous in terms of positioning, so higher level defenders still experience problems. At the same time, Niklas is also organic in playing along, taking a high place for the striker 25th in the Bundesliga in terms of passes under the blow, 18th in passes to the penalty area, 17th in pre-kick actions.

Sometimes the Werder striker is wooden , bad decision making slips through, but he still consistently gives discounts after clearances from the goal, is very good at pulling out of the attacking line to stretch the defenders, and is even able to subtly assist.

A curious statistical fact: this season Niklas scores either at the beginning of the match or in the last minutes. The goal against Spain happened just in the 83rd minute. The perfect joker!

(Figures as of October 24, 2022)

Niklas' excellent form and led to the fact that a flash mob literally started in Germany with one with the goal of pushing Füllkrug into the national team for the 2022 World Cup.

How Füllkrug was imposed on the national team: for him, Matthäus, Schweinsteiger and even Kroos

Füllkrug was never called up to the main German team before the World Cup. At most there were matches for youth and youth teams with Antonio Rüdiger.

But this year Niklas is a real candidate from the people. Legends of German football, Werder teammates and ordinary fans supported his call to the national team.

The chief PR agent of the Füllkrug in Germany, Lothar Matthäus. Once every couple of weeks, he demanded through the media to invite Niklas to the national team: I don’t think that Hansi Flick is blind. He perfectly sees the power of Füllkrug. Niklas is an obvious contender for a place in the application.

Bastian Schweinsteiger picked up the baton: He is a very strong player. He scores a lot because he's cool in front of the net and I like his athleticism.