Germany players gathered on Monday for upcoming friendlies against France and the Netherlands without ill debutant Aleksandar Pavlovic while coach Julian Nagelsmann told school children he wants to create "emotional moments" at Euro 2024.
Team officials said that the 19-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder Pavlovic is suffering from an infection and it was not clear immediately when he will be able to join the squad.
Germany play France on Saturday in Lyon and the Netherlands three days later in Frankfurt.
The other four Bayern players in coach Julian Nagelsmann's 26-player squad are Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala and Thomas Müller.
Goalkeeper Neuer, 37, is back in the team for the first time since the 2022 World Cup. He was sidelined until October with a lower leg fracture sustained in a skiing accident in December 2022.
Also returning is fellow 2014 World Cup winner Toni Kroos who is coming out of three years of international retirement. The Real Madrid midfielder was in high demand for autographs by fans who had gathered at the team hotel in Frankfurt.
Pavlovic meanwhile is one of six debutants, with VfB Stuttgart alone providing three of them in the form of defender Waldemar Anton, left back Maximilian Mittelstädt and striker Deniz Undav.
Mittelstädt, who tuned 27 on Monday, said upon his arrival he wanted to "push" the team from the subs' bench but added that "of course I'm also confident that I can help the team in the starting eleven".
Nagelsmann, sporting director Rudi Völler and national federation DFB managing director Andreas Rettig visited a local primary school where the coach told pupils the key message he wanted to deliver to the team later in the day for the Euro 2024 home tournament.
"The result is always decisive in the end. But first of all, it's about playing in such a way that every German can identify with it and say that I enjoy watching this team," Nagelsmann said in a video of the event distributed by the DFB.
He said the Euros are about "playing beautiful and good football, but that the commitment is right, that we inspire people in the country. That's the most important thing for me.
"It's about creating lots of emotional moments for this country, for the fans, for the kids, for the people who are in the stadium, who are watching on TV, who are out and about in the streets."
Nagelsmann has managed only one victory from his four games in charge and the games against France and the Netherlands are the only ones before he picks his provisional squad in May for the Euros where Germany play Scotland, Hungary and Switzerland in the group stage.
Nagelsmann's decision to bring in new players while doing without the likes of Leon Goretzka, Mats Hummels, Nico Schlotterbeck and Robin Gosens has raised eyebrows and been deemed risky.
