The title mission of the German U21 footballers at the European Championships in Georgia and Romania is coming to an abrupt end. On matchday 2, the German junior team lost 2-1 (0-1) to the Czech Republic on Sunday (June 25th, 2023).
Angelo Stiller (70′) made up for the deficit with a counterattack by the Czechs (33′). But Martin Vitik (87th) let the Czech Republic celebrate after a corner. After the boring 1: 1 (1: 1) at the start of the European Championship against Israel, coach Antonio Di Salvo’s team needs a win in the last group game against England to even have a chance of reaching the quarterfinals and qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games have.
With Jessic Ngankam replacing the ailing Youssoufa Moukoko in the starting XI, the German team initially noticed that they wanted to make the unfortunate start, which was followed by a racism scandal on social media, be forgotten. After just five minutes, Josha Vagnoman fired the first warning shot from 20 meters.
Goalkeeper Jaros keeps the Czech Republic zero
Germany dictated what happened and had more chances. But Czech goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros was on the ball with both a Stiller free-kick from the right (14th) and a Vagnoman shot (20th). Above all, the Czech Republic was waiting for mistakes and counterattacks – and the German team served both of them.
The defense was able to iron out a mistake by DFB goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (28′). But a little later, the German “rest of the defense” ran completely after the Czech counterattack after a corner kick. The fast Vasil Kusej escaped at top speed on the left side and served Vaclav Sejk with a perfectly timed cross pass, who only had to push in from three meters to make it 1-0.
With the deficit, the knees of the German U21s became weaker. The German team couldn’t get the game under control until the break and were even lucky that the Czech Republic didn’t make it 2-0 after a free kick (39′).
Ngan came out for the break
In the second half, U21 coach Di Salvo made three changes, including Moukoko’s Ngankam in the dressing room. The German team built up more pressure against the Czechs, who continued to wait and see, and had a really good chance with a header from Kevin Schade (56th) – goalkeeper Jaros was there again.
With two strikers now, Germany fought for the equalizer, but continued to have problems against the deep Czechs. However, the DFB team remained good in the duels and did not give up. In the end it was Stiller, who was free with a pass to the centre, quickly turned with the ball and shot in from the edge of the penalty area precisely on the bottom right to make it 1-1.
Lucky punch for the Czech Republic
The German U21s then fought hard for victory against opponents who were getting tired. But the Czechs still had the last word: a corner kick fell to Vitik’s feet at the far post. Matriciani deflected the shot into the goal to make it 1:2.
In the final phase, the DFB-Elf tried everything. But the Czech defense got a defensive leg in every situation, no matter how promising, or the strong goalkeeper Jaros was on the spot. With a mixture of bad luck and susceptibility to errors, the German team lost a better starting position.
fate game against strong England
On Wednesday (06/28/2023, 6 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de) the German U21s will count in the last game of Group C against England, who also defeated Israel 2-0 after beating the Czech Republic 2-0 at the start , just one win.
And the young Germans also have to keep an eye on the game between the Czech Republic and Israel. Israel should win there – and Germany should end up with the better goal difference compared to the Israelis. Otherwise the first preliminary round since 2013 at a U21 European Championship would be perfect.
In Group D, France is clearly on course for the quarter-finals. The youngsters of the Equipe Tricolore have six points from two games after the 1-0 win against Norway on Sunday. Italy is also back in the running after the unfortunate opening defeat against France. In the 3-2 win against Switzerland, things got tight for the Italians after a 3-0 lead in the second half.