2024 Euro was not just a historic tournament because Europe's Nations played for the prestigious hre Delan trophy for the first time in a unified Germany but it also marked the end of an era for the national team for stalwarts IL gundan Thomas Muller Manuel Neuer and Tony Cruz have now retired from International Football meaning Germany will look very different when they face Hungary in Saturday's Nations League opener 1945 British summertime the quartet have made a combined 451 appearances over the past decade and era including D mana's World Cup win in 2014 but success has been sparse in recent times with Germany failing to progress past the group stages twice in the last four major tournaments and losing to Spain in the Euro 2024 quarterfinals after a miserable few years Julian nelman side showed glimpses of recovery in the summer but with the old guard hanging up their boots can his new look team return to the top of the world game Cru and gundan served as key figures in nelman Midfield at the while Neuer kept his spot as starting goalkeeper although Cru was 34 when the tournament started he was Germany's Midfield anchor and playmaker the retirement of the six-time Champions League winner will create a hole that might be hard to fill all four players were major leaders within the team regardless of potentially slowing with age it speaks for itself that Manchester City jumped at the opportunity to bring gundan back after his sudden departure from Barcelona last month with Cruz merer and Neuer the last members of the 2014 World Cup winning Squad have exited the international stage and nelman is tasked with not only building a new core on the field but also inside his dressing room while Jamal muala and Florian WS are the Next Generation about standing attacking talents they are by no means at a point where they will be fierce leaders anytime soon right now these two just like Kai habits or Max ailan buyer impressed first and foremost through their footballing abilities Germany's Tony Cru w image source gety images image caption Tony Cru retired after Euro 2024 Joshua kimich has been chosen as the new captain succeeding gundan and Neuer while kimich has the makings of a leader his promotion comes at a time when he almost seems past his Peak for the past two years he has struggled at Bayern Munich and with Germany and coaches were trying to figure out if they would rather use him as a central midfielder or right back Bayern manager Vincent company utilized kimich as a midfielder in the first two games of the Bundesliga season but nelman could see more value in his being part of his backline it is a difficult situation for a player to switch between positions constantly kimich is known as an energetic even overly eager personality who does not take setbacks and losses lightly in that sense he might almost be a counterweight to younger players who seem like free spirits and enjoy expressing themselves on the pitch