Germany – Romania: A football evening that sets new accents – sport

The football evening was already in overtime, until the German national team were missing a further three points for the World Cup qualification with a score of 2: 1, but the opponent was infamous not to be dismissed. Romania attacked again. Whether the turf in the German penalty area “burned brightly”, as they say in the technical jargon, or only experienced moderate heating, remains a matter of opinion, there was certainly no lack of alarm when Andrei Ratiu put the ball sharply in the middle.

Niklas Süle’s intervention ultimately did two things: he countered the risk of equalization – and he averted a possible nervous breakdown of teammate Marc-André ter Stegen. If the German goalkeeper had to accept a second goal in this 92nd minute, he might have run away screaming.

It was Ter Stegen’s third assignment for Germany within two years, he represented – as usual: as an exception – the injured Manuel Neuer (adductor), and again it looked like one of his typical stories in the national jersey. This time there was no embarrassing defeat like six months ago in the 1: 2 against North Macedonia, instead the captain challenger experienced another variation of his reliably unsatisfactory DFB appearances: Nobody shot at his goal, but if someone did, it was Ball in the net. Goalkeepers hate that: they didn’t play along and still didn’t score. As in the penultimate mission, October 2019, not even a happy 6: 1 in Northern Ireland is fun for everyone else. “When a goal is scored, it’s always stupid for a goalkeeper,” remarked national coach Hansi Flick in the direction of Ter Stegen on Friday.

The national team’s popularity and creditworthiness are in better shape again

Nevertheless, the goalkeeper of FC Barcelona took part in the lap of honor in Hamburg’s Volkspark in an impeccably upright posture. The players passed the applauding people with measured pace, and both sides were conspicuously connected in sympathy. The winning goal scorer Thomas Müller praised the audience without being asked: “You have to pay a compliment to the fans here,” he said. Despite the long backlog, it “honored the performance”. The joyful cry of the 25,000 over the late 2: 1 had seriously impressed the well-traveled Müller – “that was a small explosion”.

The pairing “Hamburg” and “emotional outburst” sounds like a contradiction in terms, when one immediately thinks of Olaf Scholz, who, as a professional stoic, seemed to be the best cast for a Hamburg mayor. Now the lively response in the Volkspark indicated that the popularity and creditworthiness of the national team is better than in the last few years with Jogi Löw. For the time being, the relationship has recovered from the state of the relationship crisis. Hansi Flick reclaimed some of the contributions to the change for his players, he said: “It was not a perfect game, but we are very happy with the will of the team.”

This evening set new accents at the inauguration of the new national coach, which was by no means completed. At the debut in September, his team had completed three compulsory exercises in the increase mode from arduous to sovereign, this time there was a real opponent for a change. Nevertheless, in the end it was the German players who got in each other’s way the most, not only in a comedic way, like when Serge Gnabry shot on goal, which for once was not a Romanian, but Leroy Sané, but by and large. There was no lack of zeal, commitment, movement or speed, but precision, coordination, clarity and understanding, besides the deficit, the massively superior German team had to chase after many self-inflicted playback errors.

Serge Gnabry (number ten) takes off: The striker puts all his strength into the shot, which flies into the Romanian goal to make it 1-1.

(Photo: Marc Schüler / imago)

Gnabry, the most dangerous attacker, was ultimately the logical shooter, Timo Werner was not so much an option. Like no other, the center forward combined all the virtues and all the shortcomings of the team. “One or the other was not that happy,” said Flick, but also confessed to his trust program: Werner was “a striker who can score goals and knows how to do it, and he gets the bets from us and the backing he needs “.

“The competitive situation is there – but that’s how it should be,” says Marco Reus

This game could not provide any information on the central question of whether the German team still lacks the training from the new coach or in places the necessary top class to compete on an equal footing with France, Belgium or Spain. The good Romanians were a bit too small for that. First of all, the conclusion that the German players are no less motivated than their still euphoric coach, who seems downright hyperactive compared to his age-calmed predecessor, must suffice. After the TV interviews, Flick had a spontaneous autograph and selfie session with onlookers in Hamburg. Fans shouted “Haaansi” in the stadium as loudly as if they wanted to conjure up the echo on a mountain top.

There is undeniable movement in the operation of the DFB-Elf. For example, Thomas Müller is now always playing on the bench and doesn’t need to complain about it because Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz are sitting right next to him. Starting eleven, Marco Reus, described the situation in a fitting way: “The competitive situation is there – but that’s how it should be.” Havertz and Müller increased the opportunities noticeably after their substitution, and in the end the Munich player was right on schedule to score the 2-1.

A goal after a corner kick was most recently an incident at Löws Deutschland. “Niki (Süle) cleared the room, Leon (Goretzka) hits him perfectly on the second post, and then I pushed him in quite well,” said Müller of a sense of achievement that Flick methodology said. The coach located the direction of the standard coach Mads Buttgereit, who he hired, behind the winning goal. They had “thought about something”, he said, “I like that very much: we are already a bit further on”.

The tour will continue in Skopje on Monday. A win against North Macedonia in the Tose-Proeski-Arena would qualify for the World Cup – and maybe Marc-André ter Stegen would also smile for an international match.

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