The German national team seems to be getting the hang of it in time for the European Championships: with leader Toni Kroos and two lightning goals, they achieved a smooth 2-0 victory in France in Lyon on Saturday evening (March 23, 2024) – the whole thing had something of a rebirth of the DFB teams.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann then told the sports show: “Two early goals in both halves obviously help. And then the counter-pressing was really very good, everyone at the front helped straight away after losing the ball. Then Marc-André ter Stegen made an outstanding save on Kylian Mbappé’s chance. We had it in the second half played really good football and created a lot of chances for ourselves.”
Völler relieved in the Sportschau interview
DFB sports director Rudi Völler, who can imagine extending his term of office beyond the European Championships, admitted to the first: “After just eight seconds there was not only joy, but also relief. To win 2-0 here against the top favorite for the European title – that’s quite a feat.”
It’s hard to believe if you still remember the last tournaments and especially the 2023 international match year: It was a completely deserved triumph for the DFB team, which brought a lot of the qualities to the pitch that Nagelsmann had demanded: courage, determination, Move to the goal, speed in the passing game, presence in the opponent’s penalty area, consistency in counter-pressing.
Record goal and outstanding start phase for the DFB team
Even in the first 20 minutes, the German team was unrecognizable from the previous games in Austria (0:2) or against Turkey (2:3). The ball circulated excellently, the offensive spaces were sought and played courageously, and after ball losses, the recovery worked excellently.
And: Toni Kroos’ return paid off in record time: Immediately after the game kicked off, comebacker Florian Wirtz set the stage, creating space in front of the French penalty area with a little hip wiggle – and after eight (!) seconds it was good 20 meters scored the fastest goal in DFB history to make it 1-0.
Just missed the fastest international goal
Not much would have been missing and this goal would have been the earliest international goal ever. But just that same afternoon, Leipzig’s Christoph Baumgartner scored exactly one second faster in the Austrians’ 2-0 win in Slovakia.
Wirtz said: “I noticed about the record, but the important thing is that I scored my first international goal and we got off to a good start in the game.”
As a result, the Germans gained clear field superiority and pushed the vice world champions deep into their own half. However, there weren’t too many chances to score: a solo by Wirtz with a pass to Jamal Musiala was the most promising attempt after five minutes, but Musiala couldn’t poke the ball past keeper Brice Samba.
Ter Stegen makes a great save against Mbappé
It was only after 20 minutes that the hosts got better into the game. Triggered by too many bad passes in the German team, especially by captain Ilkay Gündogan, the Équipe tricolore suddenly had counterattack opportunities, which Ousmane Dembélé on the right against Maximilian Mittelstädt and on the left Kylian Mbappé against Joshua Kimmich repeatedly took advantage of.
Mbappé initially failed in the 22nd minute with a full-range shot from a half-left position, shortly afterwards he broke through again – but failed due to Marc-André ter Stegen’s outstanding reaction. The Barca keeper, who was chosen by national coach Julian Nagelsmann to be number two behind Manuel Neuer (missed with a torn muscle fiber) for the upcoming Euro, was also there when Dembélé shot in the 35th minute.
Ter Stegen needed a bit of luck when Adrien Rabiot’s header went just over the goal. Only then did the DFB team create space again in the minutes before the break and counterattack.
And immediately the next lightning start
Nagelsmann probably discussed these minutes in his half-time speech as an example of the route after the restart – the Germans came out of the locker room much more courageous. And this time too the reward came early. This time Wirtz sent Musiala deep, the maneuvered keeper Samba out and passed perfectly into the backcourt to the onrushing Kai Havertz – 2-0 in the 49th minute.
The French appeared as shocked as they had after conceding the first goal, allowed themselves to be pushed back surprisingly far and only became dangerous when Gündogan lost the ball again. The Germans had the next best chance again: Musiala was thwarted by a solo effort just before Samba, then Robert Andrich narrowly missed the French goal from a distance.
Lots of opportunities in the Final quarter hour
What the Germans managed to do much better this time than in the first half: they remained in control of the action, didn’t allow themselves to be distracted from their path and were the clearly superior team throughout the entire second half.
This could well have been reflected in the result in the final quarter of an hour. So Mittelstädt forced Samba to make a brilliant save, shortly afterwards substitutes Thomas Müller and debutant Deniz Undav narrowly failed to beat Samba and make it 3-0.
A bit of luck and now against the Netherlands
The DFB team only needed a bit of luck once, when Mittelstädt almost scored an own goal in the 89th minute. Antonio Rüdiger scratched the ball off the line for the defeated ter Stegen and artistically pushed it to the bottom edge of the crossbar. Shortly afterwards, Joker Olivier Giroud also narrowly failed – everything was just right for Germany that evening.
This appearance now needs to be confirmed next Tuesday (March 26th, 2024) in Frankfurt against the Netherlands (8:45 p.m., live ticker at sportschau.de). This will be followed by tests against Ukraine (June 3rd) and Greece (June 7th) before the European Championships begin in Germany a week later.