Germany are wasting no time in their aim to play a successful World Cup, possibly with a starting XI that no one could have foreseen just a few weeks ago.
The team went on an evening stroll on the shore of Lake Michigan to stretch the tired legs shortly after their arrival in Chicago on Tuesday and a first training session is set for later Wednesday.
Germany play final tune-up match against the US team on Saturday at Chicago's Soldier Field, where they will be aiming for a ninth straight win to enter the tournament they start on June 14 in Houston against Curaçao with the best possible mindset.
"I think it will be a very emotional match. It's a matter of soaking up the atmosphere and really getting into the tournament," coach Julian Nagelsmann said of the US match.
Nagelsmann must decide whether recalled goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is fit to play on Saturday in the wake of a calf injury, and whether Kai Havertz will start up front a week after losing the Champions League final with Arsenal. Havertz only joined the squad on Tuesday.
A last-minute shake-up in the starting line-up appears to be in the making, which could not have been expected after the qualifying campaign in autumn or even after the March friendlies.
Neuer has already been declared first choice in his return from international retirement when the squad was announced, which was bad news for Oliver Baumann.
And left back Nathaniel Brown, teen-aged forward Lennart Karl and midfielder Felix Nmecha have impressed in such a way for their clubs and in Sunday's 4-0 against Finland that they could be World Cup starters instead of David Raum, Leroy Sané and Leon Goretzka.
It was a situation Nagelsmann originally wanted to avoid by having clearly defined roles for the players in an effort to curb any potential discontent.
Nagelsmann said these roles dominated media coverage over the past weeks and months but he insisted that they merely described the situation at the time – and were subject to change.
In this respect, it will be the days in Chicago that will point the way to the World Cup for the four-time champions who went out in the group stage at the last two editions.
