If fully healthy, Jamal Musiala may be among the most exciting players to watch at the tournament. Still only 23, the Bayern Munich star is already the kind of attacker who can make a game feel tilted every time he gets the ball, gliding past defenders in tight spaces and turning harmless possessions into real danger. He is capable of being both the creative force that unlocks defenses and being the goal scorer finishing off attacking moves.
Musiala is no longer just a gifted prospect. He will be one of the central figures of a Germany team that believes it can make a real run. He missed most of Germany’s qualifying campaign through injury, but Julian Nagelsmann still views him as one of the team’s potential regulars, and he showed again recently how decisive he can be by scoring the equalizer in Bayern’s wild 4-3 comeback win over Mainz.
After only recently returning from a gruesome broken leg suffered in last summer’s Club World Cup, he is just starting to get back to full fitness. If Germany is to make a deep run, they will need Musiala to get back to his game-wrecking self in short order. It is easy to imagine Musiala being the player people remember most, not just because of the goals or assists, but because very few players in the tournament move like him with the ball at their feet.