Deutsche Sky: The German team’s World Cup bracket situation is grim, and it may enter the second bracket to face powerful enemies such as Spain, France and England.

Sky Sports Germany wrote an analysis that the German national team’s prospects for the 2026 World Cup draw are not optimistic.

Since the current world ranking is only 12th, if they advance directly, they will be placed in the second pot, which means that they will inevitably encounter a host or the top nine top teams in the group stage: Spain, France, Argentina, England, Portugal, Brazil, Netherlands, Belgium and Croatia.

To enter the ideal first gear, the German team faces a double challenge. First, they must take six points from back-to-back wins over Luxembourg and Northern Ireland in October's qualifiers.

Secondly, they also need to hope that the three teams currently ranked in front of them, Morocco, Italy and Croatia, will lose points in their respective games. Among them, Morocco's next schedule (a friendly match and a qualifying match) has limited points gains, giving the German team a chance to catch up.

The worst-case scenario is that if the German team fails to advance directly and is forced to participate in the play-offs next March, they will automatically be placed in the fourth gear, which is the lowest gear. By then, the situation of qualifying for the group stage will become extremely difficult.