Germany reached the final of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Hungary after a resounding 4-0 win over Austria in Budapest. Scoring his sixth goal of the campaign, Davie Selke put coach Marcus Sorg’s team ahead after an assist from the impressive Marc Stendera, who added a second goal before half-time and again provided the pass for Levin Öztunali to fire in Germany’s third in the 58th minute. Hany Mukhtar added the fourth and final strike ten minutes later.
In Thursday’s final (live on Eurosport from 19:00 CEST), the DFB’s U-19 side will face Portugal, who accounted for defending champions Serbia 4-3 on penalties in their semi-final. "It’s always fortunate to reach a final after penalties," Niklas Stark said in reference to his side’s upcoming opponents, "but along with us, Portugal are definitely the strongest team at this European Championship. Germany versus Portugal will be a fitting finale and we’re really looking forward to it!"
Sorg: "The team did a fantastic job"
"The team did a fantastic job and deserved to reach the final," said Sorg. "They showed what great quality they have and how hard work is rewarded. Now we want to bring Germany its second trophy of the summer." The U-19 coach went on to add: "Technically they were very good. I was pleased with the team’s ability to push forward and finish smartly and with total focus."
In front of a crowd of 1,150 at the Ferenc Szusza Stadium, the German side had the better start against a hard-tackling Austrian team. Scottish referee Kevin Clancy rightly denied Hany Mukhtar an early goal in the third minute after Marc-Oliver Kempf collided with opposition goalkeeper Lucic in the build-up. Despite this setback, Germany continued to dominate the game’s opening exchanges. The prolific Selke missed the target in the tenth minute after Julian Brandt and Mukhtar launched a counterattack and forced Lucic to parry the ball clear with a low shot five minutes later.
Austria were limited to just a couple of early chances. In the 13th minute, Grillitsch intercepted Germany goalkeeper Oliver Schnitzler’s clearance but the rebound flew just over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Peter Michori was not far away from the target with a free-kick from around 30 metres out.
Selke gives Germany the lead
Germany were rewarded for their strong start in the 20th minute, when Selke nodded home a cross from Frankfurt’s Marc Stendera. Levin Öztunali narrowly missed the opportunity to extend their advantage two minutes later but was unable to control the ball while unmarked in the box. On the half-hour mark, Stendera sent in a powerful shot from 16 metres out to double his team’s lead. Sorg’s charges then eased off slightly for the remainder of the first half, but Austria rarely threatened the Germany penalty area and Selke even had another goal ruled out for offside in the 39th minute.
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Germany reached the final of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Hungary after a resounding 4-0 win over Austria in Budapest. Scoring his sixth goal of the campaign, Davie Selke put coach Marcus Sorg’s team ahead after an assist from the impressive Marc Stendera, who added a second goal before half-time and again provided the pass for Levin Öztunali to fire in Germany’s third in the 58th minute. Hany Mukhtar added the fourth and final strike ten minutes later.
In Thursday’s final (live on Eurosport from 19:00 CEST), the DFB’s U-19 side will face Portugal, who accounted for defending champions Serbia 4-3 on penalties in their semi-final. "It’s always fortunate to reach a final after penalties," Niklas Stark said in reference to his side’s upcoming opponents, "but along with us, Portugal are definitely the strongest team at this European Championship. Germany versus Portugal will be a fitting finale and we’re really looking forward to it!"
Sorg: "The team did a fantastic job"
"The team did a fantastic job and deserved to reach the final," said Sorg. "They showed what great quality they have and how hard work is rewarded. Now we want to bring Germany its second trophy of the summer." The U-19 coach went on to add: "Technically they were very good. I was pleased with the team’s ability to push forward and finish smartly and with total focus."
In front of a crowd of 1,150 at the Ferenc Szusza Stadium, the German side had the better start against a hard-tackling Austrian team. Scottish referee Kevin Clancy rightly denied Hany Mukhtar an early goal in the third minute after Marc-Oliver Kempf collided with opposition goalkeeper Lucic in the build-up. Despite this setback, Germany continued to dominate the game’s opening exchanges. The prolific Selke missed the target in the tenth minute after Julian Brandt and Mukhtar launched a counterattack and forced Lucic to parry the ball clear with a low shot five minutes later.
Austria were limited to just a couple of early chances. In the 13th minute, Grillitsch intercepted Germany goalkeeper Oliver Schnitzler’s clearance but the rebound flew just over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Peter Michori was not far away from the target with a free-kick from around 30 metres out.
Selke gives Germany the lead
Germany were rewarded for their strong start in the 20th minute, when Selke nodded home a cross from Frankfurt’s Marc Stendera. Levin Öztunali narrowly missed the opportunity to extend their advantage two minutes later but was unable to control the ball while unmarked in the box. On the half-hour mark, Stendera sent in a powerful shot from 16 metres out to double his team’s lead. Sorg’s charges then eased off slightly for the remainder of the first half, but Austria rarely threatened the Germany penalty area and Selke even had another goal ruled out for offside in the 39th minute.
Two minutes after the restart, Markus Blutsch’s impressive long-range effort whistled just wide of Schnitzler’s goal in what proved to be Austria’s only noteworthy effort for some time. Germany’s solid lead meant they were content to keep possession, and eventually another solid assist from Stendera enabled Öztunali to beat Lucic and make it 3-0.
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Mukhtar finishes the job
At this point, Sorg began to rest his top players, bringing Anthony Syhre and Sebastian Stolze on for Stendera and Selke, but this did not interrupt the flow of his team’s play, with Mukhtar picking up Öztunali’s cross to score Germany’s fourth. With the match wrapped up, the U-19s conserved their energy but were still able to carve out chances. Austria’s Philipp Lienhart almost scored an own goal in the 73rd minute after a cross from Kevin Akpoguma, while Mukhtar had another chance six minutes later. The final whistle eventually blew to signal Germany’s fully-deserved and safe passage into the final.
Sorg did not change his starting line-up from the team that beat Ukraine 2-0 in the last group match. Three of Austria’s players are contracted to Germany Bundesliga teams: goalkeeper Lucic plays for Bayern’s second team, captain Francesco Lovric is part of Stuttgart’s B-team and striker Grillitsch plies his trade for Werder Bremen II.
