Prior to the latest international break, there had been some debate as to who would start for Germany at striker for the World Cup, should the Germans even guarantee their qualification for next year’s tournament.
Having netted his maiden goal for his country in the last break, our record signing Nick Woltemade thrust himself into the conversation as Arsenal’s Kai Havertz remained the arguable favourite upon his imminent return from injury.
But after the latest round of international fixtures, there can be no denying that Woltemade should lead the line for Die Mannschaft in North America next summer, with the big man now scoring three in his last two.
And in assuring their automatic qualification, Woltemade and compatriot Malick Thiaw may have done one of their teammates and his country a massive favour…
Woltemade makes it three goals in four days!
On a night where Germany needed to win to book their place in the World Cup, a tough test against Slovakia awaited them. There was added pressure considering that they lost 2-0 to the same opponent back at the beginning of September.
But Woltemade got the ball rolling on what was Germany at their absolute best. A precise cross from Joshua Kimmich was formidably headed into the net from Woltemade to make it 1-0 to the hosts: the former Stuttgart ace’s 11th of the season in all competitions for club and country.
🇩🇪 Nick Woltemsde scores AGAIN!
⚽️ 4 goals in the PL
⚽️ 4 goals for his country
⚽️ 1 goal in the UCL
⚽️ 1 goal in the EFL Cup
⚽️ 1 goal for StuggartThat’s now 11 goals for club & country across 2025/26! #NUFC #GER
— NUFCBlog.co.uk (@NUFCblogcouk) November 17, 2025
From there, it was all Germany, and a bad night for former Magpie Martin Dubravka got a lot worse. A Leroy Sane brace, coupled with goals from Serge Gnabry, Ridle Baku and Assan Ouédraogo made it 6-0 at full time.
Woltemade was perhaps unlucky not to grab an assist or two himself, some beautiful play from the big man once again was unfortunately not converted by Gnabry, right before the former Arsenal winger grabbed his goal.
Perhaps the only low note of the evening for Newcastle fans was the fact Malick Thiaw, starting from the bench, unfortunately grabbed a yellow card during his short cameo. However, it was still positive to see the defender feature in a 25-minute cameo, preserving Germany’s clean sheet for the second game running.
Still, the former AC Milan star faces a very tough task ahead of him if he wants to start over Jonathan Tah and Nico Schlotterbeck next summer, but he’s in the running and will only boost his chances if he keeps performing so well on Tyneside.
Tonali’s Italys handed major play-off boost
By securing top spot in their group, Germany have managed to avoid going into the play-offs, which Dubravka and Slovakia will have to settle for.
And in doing so, there’ll be no chance that Woltemade and Thiaw set up a knockout tie with either Sandro Tonali’s Italy or Anthony Elanga’s Sweden, both of whom face uphill battles to qualify for the World Cup.
This now leaves three Mags left on international duty before our return to the Premier League against Manchester City on Saturday.
Bruno Guimaraes has a friendly with Brazil against Tunisia to look forward to on Tuesday night, whilst the pairing of Lewis Hall and Lewis Miley will be hoping to impress once again for the England U-21s against Slovakia’s U-21s.
