The faces of the German U21 football players beamed after the 3-0 win against Denmark, which the young professionals found to be a great experience, and not just because of the victory. The team had played well, Maximilian Beier, who storms for Borussia Dortmund in front of 80,000 people every day, even raved about the 11,000 spectators in Aachen: “It’s extremely fun to play football in front of so many people,” said the attacker .
After the last European Championship a year and a half ago in Georgia and Romania was a big disappointment and the confident qualification for the next tournament in Slovakia was seen as a mandatory task given the rather weak opponents, the team seems to be slowly getting going. Another test in France is coming up on Tuesday, which comes at a good moment.
Because no U21 team has played as homogeneously as in Aachen for a long time against an opponent who is considered one of the best teams on the continent. “In the end I am of course satisfied, we won three to nil, we had a lot of chances to score and allowed few chances,” said coach Antonio di Salvo. The U21 generally suffers from a lot of fluctuation because players switch to the senior national team or sometimes need a break, but di Salvo would like to establish at least “one axis”. That seems to be working.
Wanner unlucky
Bochum’s Tim Oermann and Freiburg’s Max Rosenfelder formed a very confident central defender duo, while Frankfurt’s full-backs Nnamdi Collins and Nathaniel Brown were able to make an impact in attack in addition to their mandatory defensive duties. Brown even managed to make it 2-0. “Incredible, it was an outstanding day,” he said afterwards. Rocco Reitz (Mönchengladbach) and Eric Martel (Cologne) also had good moments playing with the ball, but above all they ensured a good balance between offense and defense, while the attackers were constantly dangerous. Brajan Gruda (Brighton) is maturing more and more into a difference player with strong dribbling skills, Beier was involved in a number of dangerous scenes.
Only Paul Wanner was unlucky and had to be substituted at half-time with back problems. The teenager from 1. FC Heidenheim, who could also play for Austria, had turned down an invitation to the senior national team because he wanted to mature further and only decide at a later date which senior national team he would play for. He can keep his future open by playing for the U21, and he is firmly scheduled for the European Championships. “You have already seen what quality we have, especially individually,” said Oermann.
Nicolò Tresoldi (Hannover) scored his fifth goal in his eighth U-21 game, while Youssoufa Moukoko, who came on after just 65 minutes, scored for the 13th time in his 14th game for the U-21s. “That felt good,” said the striker, who was loaned to Nice by BVB, who is not yet one of his club’s regular staff in France and has to fight for every minute of action. But the U21 “somehow fits,” he said, “here I can play freely.”
Paul Wanner (right) doesn’t want to decide yet which national team he will play for later.EPA
This feeling of liberation characterized the entire evening after the U21s had never been able to completely shake off the weight of the weak European Championships in Georgia and Romania. The fundamental debates about a youth problem played a role; in nations like England, Spain or France there are significantly more top talents. However, the question was repeatedly raised in the team’s environment as to whether the technically strong coach di Salvo, with his rather reserved nature and his level-headed rhetoric, could release all the energies in this young team.
After the successful qualification, which was achieved without defeat, such doubts are becoming increasingly quiet. Di Salvo wasn’t even unhappy about his team’s weaker first half, in which the Danes had a lot of possession. “That wasn’t a problem for me,” he said, because dealing with such phases of games under great pressure against strong teams is one of the focal points of the curriculum that the coach wants to work on up to the European Championships. “I’m happy that we kept a clean sheet and barely allowed any shots on goal,” said di Salvo.
He was alluding to a general problem in German football, which is admired among experts in England, Italy and Spain for its courageous pressing and ball-conquering style. On the other hand, German teams now have the reputation of being unable to compete at the highest level when it comes to defense work, either in club competitions or at world and European championships.
Di Salvo now explained with satisfaction: “The team had the mentality and the will to defend the goal.” This is a fundamental sign of a new focus in German football, which also affects national coach Julian Nagelsmann and those responsible at major clubs such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund busy.
