Germany players pose a team photo before an international friendly soccer match against the United States in Chicago, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

They call him Bambi. Not for fragility, but for the way he carries the ball in traffic, that particular cleanness of movement. Jamal Musiala had 40 Germany caps and was being called the next Lionel Messi before he was 20. Then on July 5 last year, Gianluigi Donnarumma went for a loose ball and collided with him. Musiala fell screaming. His fibula fractured, his ankle dislocated. Donnarumma held his head in his hands.

Nagelsmann visited him at home during the months that followed. Not a phone call. He went in person, to tell him there was no rush. “It’s better if I come back in top form at the end of the season, and at the World Cup,” Musiala said. He did. Scored against Finland last month, completed 90 minutes for the first time since March, started against the United States on June 6. Bambi is back. Whether the old Bambi is back is the question this World Cup will answer. READ MORE.