Germany vs Slovakia: World Cup Preparations Match Ends in Dramatic Defeat for DEB Team

The men’s national team lost to Slovakia in the fourth match of their World Cup preparations on Saturday afternoon. In front of a sold-out crowd in Augsburg, national coach Harold Kreis’ team had to admit that they beat nV 4:5 in an intense and fast-paced game. DEB captain Moritz Müller celebrated his 200th international appearance at the international game, and the defender was honored for the milestone ahead of the game. The match against Slovakia will complete the second preparatory phase of preparations for the World Cup.

After the first meeting between the two teams last Thursday, the Slovaks wanted to make up for the defeat they did against the DEB team and once again they played physically and at a high pace. Nevertheless, the first change with a German selection caused a disruption in the Slovak defense, but the first opportunity remained. After six minutes, the guests had the first big chance at Slovakian Samuel Takac with his counter. Florian Bugl, who started in the DEB goal today, had the upper hand. The German team had the next chance with Jan-Luca Sennhenn, who narrowly missed in the 12th minute. The Slovaks took the lead: the German defense lacked coordination. Jozef Balaz, who received the back pass from Lukas Cingel, took advantage of this to make it 1-0 (38th).

The first power play started in the second third for the German team, which was not able to build strong pressure. The second power play was more successful: In the 25th minute, Dominik Kahun’s disc went over Parker Tuomie in front of Marc Michaelis, who directed the shot into the goal to make it 1-1. The equality did not last long because Matej Kaslik won a running duel and made it 2-1 (32′). The German team equalized in the 35th minute through Mario Zimmermann. For Zimmermann it was his first international goal. Just 49 seconds later, Alexander Ehl gave Germany the lead (35th). Again the hosts had a ready answer: Michael Lantosi equalized the score at 3-3 in the 38th minute.

It didn’t take long after the break before Justin Schütz had to go to the penalty box for a catch. The guests then scored 4:3 (43rd) through Michal Ivan. Around ten minutes before the end, Daniel Pfafengut had to go to the penalty box. Instead of conceding a goal, DEB’s selection benefited from a shorthanded goal. Wojciech Stachowiak won a duel behind the guests’ goal and brought the puck in front of the goal, where the guests put the puck into their own goal (51′). The last minutes of the game were marked by a great fight for the decisive goal, which Samuel Soramies and shortly after Matthias Plachta had on hand with a shot against the post. The extension had to make the decision. Slovakia had a successful end thanks to Martin Fasko-Rudas, who received the man of the match award.

Next Tuesday the national team will meet in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for stage three. Then there are the next two international games on the schedule. The opponent is always the Austrian selection.