Already this summer Andre Schürrle, member of the World Cup winning squad from 2014, has announced his retirment at the age of only 29. Now he has been joined by fellow squad member from the glorious campaign in Brazil by left back Benedikt Höwedes, who has said he will not be looking for a new club following the expiry of his contract at Lokomotiv Moskau. It appears that the desire is no longer there or subject himself to the rigours of professional football, particularly after enjoying a protracted period of time this year with his wife and child. A club legend at Schalke, where he played for a decade in the first team, he left in 2017 to play for Juventus but his time there was plagued by injury and he only played three games. Two seasons in Moscow followed but Höwedes has decided that it’s time to look for a fresh challenge. He was a key member of the side which won the Wold Cup in 2014, being one of only three players, along with Manuel Neuer and Philip Lahm, who played every minute of each of the seven games en-route to ”die Mannschaft“ winning their 4th World Cup. In all he played 44 times for the national side. With Mario Götze’s career also running far from smoothly since that night in Rio, it shows that winning a World Cup medal is no guarantee of a long and successful ongoing career.