The Germany U21 national team extended their impressive winning run, against their Turkish counterparts in Berlin. In what is good preparation for the European Championships in 2017, Stefan Kuntz’s side beat Turkey 1-0 in their penultimate game of the year and in the process celebrated their 13th win in a row.
Having applied a lot of pressure on the opposition goal, Germany went into the break with a deserved 1-0 lead thanks to Jeremy Toljan’s 38th minute strike. At that point, however, Turkey were down to ten men. Midfielder Ifran Can Kahcevi was given his marching orders in the 20th minute after a clash with Maximilian Arnold. In the second half, Germany found things more difficult against the depleted Turkey side, however.
Stefan Kuntz’s record as a coach remains flawless, with this being his fifth win in five as coach of the U21 team. It is record which none of his predecessors could achieve. In the last seven meetings between the two sides, Germany U21s have held the upper hand just once. Kuntz’s side play their last game of the calendar year against Euro 2017 hosts Poland on Tuesday (18:30 CET).
Bright start for Germany
In front of 5,130 fans in the Alten Försteri stadium in Berlin, the game saw a spirited contest from both team in the opening stages. The home side were slightly on top, but were not able to create any clear cut chances.
This would soon change, as the game burst into life with a red card for Turkey’s Kahcevi, who unnecessarily grabbed Germany captain Maximilian Arnold’s neck. This was the catalyst for a period of dominance for the home side, who managed to find a lot more space. The team looked particularly dangerous when the ball was being moved quickly.
##more###Toljan breaks the deadlock
After a sharp cross into the box, Davie Selke had the chance to put the U21s into the lead. However, his header went just wide of the far post (26’). Two minutes later and it was Selke’s RB Leipzig teammate Timo Werner with the chance to open Germany’s account. After a wonderful pass from Arnold, Werner went past goalkeeper Gökhan Akkan, but his shot was cleared by Erol Erdal Alkan (28’). Jeremy Toljan then broke the deadlock for the home side, volleying home a Leroy Sané cross in the 38th minutes.
Turkey come close
Without making any personnel changes, but making a tactical switch to two defensive midfielders, the Germany team started the second-half brightly and threatened to score a second. Mahmoud Dahoud went close with a stunning long range effort (56’). At the other end, the visitors were unfortunate not to score a goal of their own. A neat pass caught the home side napping and Kubilay Kanatsizkus shot beat debutant Pollersbeck in goal, but hit the outside of the far post (59’).
Despite being a man down, Turkey remained equal to the challenge and had another chance to equalise through Yusu Yazici (67’), but this time Pollersback made a good save. Meanwhile, Sané and Arnold missed good chances to extend Germany’s lead in the 68th minute. Germany then regained more control of the contest. However, second-half substitute Maximilian Philipp could only fire his shot at Akkan in the Turkey goal (77’). Despite squandering a number of good chances on the night, Germany would hold on to seal the 1-0 win.