HOUSTON (AP) — Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has fully recovered from a calf injury he sustained last month and is ready to go for Germany’s World Cup opener against Curaçao on Sunday.The 40-year-old enters the World Cup having not played for Germany in almost two years after coach Julian Nagelsmann lured him out of international retirement.“(He’s) definitely fit enough to start the game and he got better and better,” Nagelsmann said Saturday night. “He didn’t really have the rhythm, but now he found the rhythm. He played a lot, we trust him a lot and I think … in order to have a good World Cup, we need Manuel in top performance and I think he can bring that.”There were questions about his health after he injured his left calf during Bayern’s last Bundesliga game of the season in late May and missed the German Cup final against Stuttgart for what was called “muscular problems in his left calf.”
The Bayern Munich captain is the only remaining member of the World Cup-winning team from 2014 on the Germany squad. This will be his fifth World Cup, which will tie the German record held by Lothar Matthäus.
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