Pavlovic to miss Germany friendlies as Kroos outlines Euro goals

Bayern Munich teenager Aleksandar Pavlovic will miss his first call-up into the German national team for upcoming friendlies due to tonsillitis while returning Toni Kroos hopes that the team can play a decent role at Euro 2024.

Midfielder Pavlovic, 19, was among six players who were nominated for the first time into the squad of coach Julian Nagelsmann for matches against France on Saturday and the Netherlands three days later.

The youngster did not join the team on Monday, and the national federation DFB said that he will not make it at all due to the illness.

As it stands now, Nagelsmann does not plan to pick another player in place of Pavlovic who had been a surprise nominee having played just 12 Bundesliga matches.

Nagelsmann had the other 25 players available for Tuesday training, including the five debutants Jan-Niklas Beste of Heidenheim, Hoffenheim's Maximilian Beier and the VfB Stuttgart trio of Waldemar Anton, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Deniz Undav.

The matches serve as tune-ups for Germany's home Euros, and returning Real Madrid midfielder and 2014 World Cup winner Kroos expressed hope on Tuesday that the team can play a good role after recent modest results.

"If we go out in the group stage I can't tick it off," Kroos said after morning training.

Winning the title is "possibly presumptuous" in the wake of just three victories from 11 matches in 2023, but Kroos said "I would certainly be delighted if we were active in one or two of the knock-out rounds of the tournament."

Kroos, who last played for Germany in 2021 before now coming out of international retirement, said he feels ready physically for the national team games.

He said he doesn't see himself as a saviour but he wants to show all aspects of his mid-field game: "Thinking defensively, thinking offensively, providing security, playing balls forwards, making the game fast or calming it down.

Kroos added that he will aim to make young stars Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz shine up front.

"It is great that we have such players. And now the task is for us to enjoy their full quality, for them to show the football they have in their legs. I also see that as one of my tasks," he said.

"Now it's time to get going, that's the reason why I came back, because I wanted to be with the team again."

Germany open the Euros on June 14 against Scotland, with Hungary and Switzerland their other group stage opponents.

The DFB said on Tuesday that Germany will play final tune-up games on June 3 against Ukraine and four days later against Greece.

"Ukraine and Greece are two combative, passionate teams - we've had our difficulties with opponents of this type recently. That's why these two teams are exactly the right tests after the upcoming duels with the strong top nations France and the Netherlands," Nagelsmann said in a DFB statement.

Kroos meanwhile left his Germany future beyond the Euros open because he has also not decided yet whether to renew his Madrid contract by another year.

"They will certainly not get me out of full retirement," he said.

Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß had previously dismissed a possible Kroos comeback as "a Titanic signal" but said on Tuesday that he has changed his mind now that several experienced players such as Leon Goretzka and Mats Hummels have not been nominated.

"At the moment I do welcome that Toni Kroos is returning because we don't have a lot of personalities to chose from. The return of a very experienced and very successful player may have been a good decision," Hoeneß said in Munich.