Bundesliga Daily: 18 July
Bundesliga Daily rounds up all you need to know from Germany's 18 top-flight clubs. On 18 July, USMNT hero John Anthony Brooks returned to training at Hertha Berlin, UEFA named two FC Bayern München stalwarts on the shortlist for the Best Player in Europe prize and Jhon Cordoba had some good news for 1. FSV Mainz 05 fans.
When talents collide...
Brooks and Pekarik return to Berlin
Following a well-earned holiday on the back of his gargantuan performances at the Copa America Centenario, USMNT international defender John Brooks returned to team training with Hertha Berlin on Monday. Slovakia right-back Peter Pekarik was also back in Berlin following his exploits at UEFA EURO 2016, but neither player will be fit in time for the Old Lady's UEFA Europa League third qualifying round home leg on 28 July. "They've got a bit of catching up to do," said Hertha head coach Pal Dardai. "The performance diagnostics will show how fit they are. Both will work really hard over the next two weeks."
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Europe's finest
FC Bayern duo Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer have been named on the ten-man shortlist for the 2015/16 UEFA Best Player in Europe prize. Both were two of Bayern's most consistent performers last term, but face stiff competition from the likes of perennial contenders Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the UEFA jury prepares to whittle down the star-studded shortlist to just three names. Viel Glück, Jungs!
Schubert "not a tactics nerd"
Andre Schubert believes his Gladbach side are well-equipped for the upcoming 2016/17 campaign, which could once again see the Foals juggling Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League football. "We've got 15, 16 or even 17 players that have to start if they're on form," he told Germany's leading sports specialist magazine, kicker, from the club's summer training camp in Tegernsee, Bavaria. "We'll have to see before each game what the opposition are doing and what the condition of the players is. We want to remain flexible tactically, have the ball and when we don't have it, fight to get it back. We have to be creative to break down deep-lying opponents. I'm not a tactics nerd, who spends eight hours on these things, but I do like to try a lot of things out."
Leipzig's medal hopefuls
Mainz's Cordoba may have ruled himself out of Olympics 2016 contention, but there will still be a distinct Bundesliga flavour to events in Rio. Bundesliga newcomers RB Leipzig alone will have at least three representatives flying the flag, with Lukas Klostermann, Davie Selke and Yussuf Pulsen (Denmark) competing for gold in the Cidade Maravilhosa (Marvellous City).
