The English emerged from the dressing room determined and came close to scoring, but weren’t able to produce the finish. Despite that, the DFB Juniors held strong and worked their way into controlling the game once more and quickly piled the pressure on England, as Toljan fired in a cross that was blocked off the line by Jack Stephens 53 minutes in.
Stephens and Baker have a chance to equalise
The game calmed down and became a battle within the midfield. The Young Lions almost had a shot on target in the 67th minute, had Tammy Abrahams’ shot not been blocked by Kempf at the last moment. There could have been a goal at the other end of the pitch too, if Maximilian Philipp’s shot from twelve metres away hadn’t been blocked short of the goal-line (72’).
The next chance came a minute later when England’s Stephens found himself alone in the box, but his shot was far too central to cause Schwäbe any real problems. The goalkeeper was summoned one last time due to Lewis Baker’s powerful shot from 20 metres away in the final minute of the game.
The Germany U21 National Team have started 2017 with a win, after deservedly beating England 1-0 before a crowd of 9,457 in Wiesbaden’s Brita Arena. Nadiem Amiri scored the decisive goal of the evening in the 23rd minute for a Germany side that looked the better of the two. Gideon Jung, Marc-Oliver Kempf and Thilo Kehrer were awarded their debuts by manager Stefan Kuntz.
After ten minutes of probing their opposition, the hosts took full control of the game. David Selke was just short of latching onto a cross from Mitchell Weiser in the twelfth minute, and moments thereafter the striker of newly promoted side RB Leipzig fired wide from inside the box (14’).
Amiri scores following a corner
The Young Lions posed hardly any offensive threat whatsoever, but did have a chance in the 22nd minute: Nathaniel Chalobah’s overhead kick landed at the feet of Alfie Mawson, but the centre-back was not able to get enough behind the ball from eight metres out to cause goalkeeper Julian Pollersbeck any sort of trouble.
Conversely, the Germans soon took the lead. A header from Matthias Ginter after Max Meyer’s corner was kept out spectacularly by England keeper Jordan Pickford, but he then had no chance against Amiri, who was on hand to fire home the rebound from 16 metres out.
The Germans came close to scoring a second goal but Selke’s deflected header (28’) hit the post, and his effort after a fine Max Meyer pass (32’) went over the bar. Maximilian Arnold also saw his effort from long-range go centimeters wide shortly before the break (42’).
Germany match England’s determination
Kuntz made a change shortly before half-time, with Weiser coming off for Jeremy Toljan. Goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe replaced Pollersbeck in net, and Levin Öztunali came on for goalscorer Amiri.
The English emerged from the dressing room determined and came close to scoring, but weren’t able to produce the finish. Despite that, the DFB Juniors held strong and worked their way into controlling the game once more and quickly piled the pressure on England, as Toljan fired in a cross that was blocked off the line by Jack Stephens 53 minutes in.
Stephens and Baker have a chance to equalise
The game calmed down and became a battle within the midfield. The Young Lions almost had a shot on target in the 67th minute, had Tammy Abrahams’ shot not been blocked by Kempf at the last moment. There could have been a goal at the other end of the pitch too, if Maximilian Philipp’s shot from twelve metres away hadn’t been blocked short of the goal-line (72’).
The next chance came a minute later when England’s Stephens found himself alone in the box, but his shot was far too central to cause Schwäbe any real problems. The goalkeeper was summoned one last time due to Lewis Baker’s powerful shot from 20 metres away in the final minute of the game.
