It will be a surprise if Germany win World Cup, claims Rudiger

won the 2014

but they were eliminated in the group stage at the last World Cup and lost against England in the round of 16 in Euro 2020.

Germany has been promising since Hansi Flick took over from Joachim Low in 2021 and Rudiger says he is excited to play the role of a leader in Qatar.

"It's exciting. In 2018 I was in the team, but always on the bench. I was young. Now I enjoy a different role, the role of leader,"

he told AS.

"I've worked all my life for this and it's something that makes me very happy. I'm ready.

"It's a new era. In 2014 there was an excellent generation, people like [Toni] Kroos, [Mario] Gotze, [Phillip] Lahm, [Bastian] Schweinsteiger.

"But I think now there is also a great generation of players capable of achieving something important.

"You can never get Germany out of the potential winners. But if we look at what we have done in recent months, it may be a surprise [if] we win.

"We haven't managed to do a good stage lately. In good shape, for me, is for example Brazil."

Germany is in Group E with

, Costa Rica, and Japan. They start their World Cup campaign against Japan on November 23, before then facing Spain and Costa Rica.

"It's a World Cup. If you want to win it you have to also beat the best, and it doesn't matter when you face them,"

he added.

"Spain is very, very high. Now, playing in Spain, I can see how many good players there are.

"Like Germany, it is a new generation. In football, it's hard to give things time. But I think they have a good team, a young team that may need time."

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