Manuel Neuer will soon be part of the Hundred Club
Germany’s final EM test against Latvia on Monday (8.15 p.m. / live RTL) in Düsseldorf is not a soccer summit, but Manuel Neuer is the first goalkeeper to join the “Hundreds” club of the DFB selection – a brand that only 15 players have cracked before him. “The 100 mark makes me proud. It's something very special as a goalkeeper to make so many games for his country,” said Neuer in preparation for his sixth finals as number one.
Since his debut in 2009, Neuer could hold up a few more games. Because three metatarsal fractures and a long break from injury brought him temporarily off course. It was only shortly before the botched World Cup in 2018 that Neuer made his international comeback after 599 days in a 2-1 draw against Austria in Klagenfurt. There is no end in sight: “I'm 35, but I feel fit and very productive. I have no plans to end my national team career.”
To the chagrin of Marc-Andre ter Stegen (29). Neuer's perpetual heir to the DFB's throne has been waiting for years to be crowned number 1. Ter Stegen has to feel like England's Prince Charles.
