“I’ve to say, I anticipated to be included,” a visibly shocked Benjamin Henrichs mentioned in a video forward of the 2022 World Cup in response to Hansi Flick leaving him out of the squad. On the time, he instructed followers on his stream that it had been completely disappointing for him.
Henrichs defined that he had been concerned in all of Germany’s internationals in 2022, which was why he had felt assured. Nonetheless, the total reality can be that in eight matches he solely got here on twice and was on the pitch for simply 68 minutes.
Commercial
Though he didn’t handle it within the stream, what should even have stung was the truth that Flick nominated his teammate Lukas Klostermann as an alternative of Henrichs. On the time, he was one of many shock names within the squad, as Klostermann had beforehand been out injured for 3 months. Nonetheless, the then Germany coach opted towards a match Henrichs and selected Klostermann as an alternative.
Henrichs on the again foot
He was mentioned to be versatile sufficient to play in a again three, 4, or 5, in accordance with a report by ‘rblive’ on the time. He seemingly additionally bought the nod over Henrichs due to his reliability. Former Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann as soon as mentioned that if he woke Klostermann up in the midst of the evening and instructed him, “Now bread a number of schnitzels for me,” he would do this too.
Klostermann went to the World Cup and even performed a couple of minutes, however as we all know, it was solely a brief keep in Qatar for the German workforce. Their event ended after the group stage.
Commercial
In a means, that additionally felt like the tip of Klostermann’s worldwide profession. He was nonetheless referred to as up for a number of friendlies in 2023, however by now he’s solely a benchwarmer at membership stage as nicely and as far-off from a World Cup ticket as Leipzig are from a world title this season.
📸 Frederic Scheidemann – 2025 Getty Pictures
So Henrichs not has to fret about him. However with a watch on the 2026 World Cup, he ended up slowing himself down. Within the winter of 2024, he tore his proper Achilles tendon in an away recreation in Munich.
He was out for greater than a yr afterward. Throughout that point, he obtained many messages — additionally from former teammates similar to Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool) and Dani Olmo (Barça). Each supplied to let him do elements of his rehab with them. Joshua Kimmich had additionally checked in on the Leipzig participant and written to him commonly. Henrichs, 29, made some extent of thanking the Bayern and Germany captain once more, as he revealed in an interview with ‘kicker’: “As a result of I don’t take it as a right, how usually he wrote to me and the way a lot he appeared out for me.”
Commercial
Is a déjà vu looming?
Then, firstly of 2026, Henrichs made his comeback. After temporary substitute appearances, he has already been allowed to begin twice as nicely. However he nonetheless has not been on the pitch for a full 90 minutes. Nonetheless, when he scored in final week’s 5-0 win over Hoffenheim, all of Leipzig most likely felt like hugging him.
“I feel you might see what that meant from his celebration and in addition from the response of the workforce and the stadium. Everybody is aware of what a journey Benny has been by over the previous couple of months. Now he’s again concerned once more,” Ole Werner mentioned after the win. The Leipzig man has an distinctive character and is “a blessing for each workforce,” his coach defined. With the emphasis on “each.”
Commercial
However to safe a World Cup ticket with the German nationwide workforce, Henrichs wants taking part in time. But he could also be dealing with a déjà vu. Klostermann is not a rival, however one other Leipzig participant continues to be dreaming of the event this summer time: Ridle Baku.
Ole Werner presently has a tricky alternative over who to subject at right-back. He has “two actually, actually good lads,” which doesn’t make the choice any simpler. So will Henrichs be snubbed by the following Germany coach and have to look at his teammate go to the World Cup? For the present worldwide break, neither of the 2 was referred to as up, whereas Stuttgart’s Josha Vagnoman has been given the prospect to impress Nagelsmann.
Nonetheless, the Germany coach did get in contact with Henrichs firstly of January. “He wrote to me once more just lately, and in my eyes that was truly comparatively excellent news,” Henrichs revealed to ‘kicker’ throughout coaching camp.
So it isn’t utterly out of the query that he might nonetheless soar on the World Cup prepare — 4 years late. And who is aware of, possibly in Could we’ll see a stream from Benjamin Henrichs during which he declares how glad he’s to be a part of the event within the USA, Canada, and Mexico. In reality, he had supposedly had a foul feeling beforehand. In any case, he had not been referred to as up for a world for fairly some time earlier than the World Cup squad announcement.
Commercial
This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.