His absence through anything but injury would have been unthinkable during Germany's run to the 2014 World Cup title. However, in recent months he has been out of form both for Juventus and Germany. Joachim Löw was right to leave him out of Germany's second group-stage game against Sweden. Now he's been left out of the squad for the latest international break.

Having been ommitted from Joachim Löw's final World Cup squad at the last minute, Leroy Sane has ironically ended up being one of the only German players to come out of the tournament looking good. The Manchester City winger is in Löw's squad for France and Peru and could be a key part of the rebuild.

After hitting the post twice after coming off the bench in Russia, Julian Brandt is one of the few German players who can look back positively at his World Cup performances. The 22-year-old has become an essential part of Heiko Herrlich's Bayer Leverkusen side and now, with his eye for a decisive pass, he should be just as important for Joachim Löw and Germany.

Unlike his namesake in Leverkusen, Julian Draxler's progress in recent seasons has been less impressive. Having struggled to nail down a starting position with both Paris Saint Germain and Germany, the former Schalke forward has even been linked with a move to La Liga side Sevilla. Could a leading role in Joachim Löw's Germany rebuild help Draxler reignite his career?

Marco Reus, on the other hand, is predestined to be a big part of the rebuild. Having missed both the World Cup in Brazil and Euro 2016 in France, the tournament in Russia was just the second major one of his career. The Dortmund captain still has time to win titles with Germany.

After failing to make the 23-man squad for Russia, Sandro Wagner burned a lot of bridges as he retired from the national team, meaning a return is all but out of the question. That's too bad for Joachim Löw, as following the retirement of Mario Gomez, Germany could do with an out-and-out striker.

Joachim Löw has given the 21-year-old Paris Saint-Germain defender his first call-up to the national team for the current international break, and he could play a key role going forward. Last season, he was Schalke's second-best in terms of tackles won - behind the veteran central defender Naldo. Now Thomas Tuchel is aiming to turn this diamond-in-the-rough into a star.

With Sandro Wagner and Mario Gomez no longer available for selection, Nils Petersen has been given another chance to take the No. 9 role. He may not be a candidate to start regularly for Germany, but at Freiburg he has also proved his effectiveness coming on as a sub.

For the moment at least, Sebastian Rudy has to go down as one of the losers following Germany's disastrous World Cup. In the recent past he had been one of Joachim Löw's favorites, in part due to his versatility. However, the coach wants his team to be faster in the future, which may have been a factor that led to him leaving the newly signed Schalke midfielder out for France and Peru.

What a difference four years makes! Having scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final in Rio, it's been pretty much all downhill for his career ever since, particularly when it comes to the national team. At 26, there is still time for him to make a national team comeback - Joachim Löw has said as much - if he can rediscover his form of old for Dortmund.