Julian Nagelsmann started his tenure as manager of the Germany national team with a win. Germany came back from behind to beat the United States 3-1 in Connecticut. Christian Pulisic’s spectacular effort gave the USA the lead in the 27th minute, but it was cancelled out 12 minutes later by Ilkay Gündogan’s 18th goal for the national team. Two quick goals from Niclas Füllkrug (58’) and Jamal Musiala (61’) in the second half secured an away win.
The DFB and the US Soccer Federation agreed that there would be a minute’s silence before the game in memory of those who have lost their lives in Israel and Gaza following the recent terrorist attack.
Nagelsmann opted for a centre-back pairing of Antonio Rüdiger and Mats Hummels in front of goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, with Hummels making his first international appearance in 837 days. The defence was completed by Robin Gosens on the left and Jonathan Tah on the right. Captain Ilkay Gündogan was joined in the middle of the park by Pascal Groß, who made his first start for Germany. Musiala and Florian Wirtz were in attacking midfield, just behind a strike partnership of Leroy Sané and Füllkrug.
Groß hits the post
Germany looked to get forward from the outset, with the US sitting back and looking to strike on the counter. The first big chance of the game came in the 11th minute, as Groß’s low shot from the edge of the box hit the post.
The quick American attackers tried to set the tone, but didn’t really trouble ter Stegen in the German goal. It was a different story at the other end of the pitch, however, as Matt Turner was forced to parry a shot from Füllkrug away in the 22nd minute. The game picked up just before the half-hour mark; first, Pulisic broke free and was one-on-one with ter Stegen, but fluffed his lines (25’). Füllkrug then had a clear chance to score, but was denied once again by Turner (26’) and the Americans broke away quickly on the counter. The ball fell once again to Pulisic on the left wing and the attacker made no mistake this time, cutting inside and curling the ball into the top corner (27’).
Gündogan equalises before Füllkrug and Musiala seal the deal
The Germany players needed to compose themselves a bit and managed to do exactly that. Sané set off on a mazy run before playing a quick one-two with Gündogan. The FC Bayern winger couldn’t quite get the ball past Turner, but his captain was able to convert the rebound (39’). Sané and Musiala almost gave Germany the lead in the first minute of stoppage time, but both of their shots were blocked in the box.
Germany picked up where they left off at the start of the second half. Füllkrug’s effort was blocked and fell to Gündogan on the edge of the box, but the captain’s shot was straight at Turner (46’). A delicate pass from Gündogan found Füllkrug in the box and the striker struck it powerfully, but Turner once again got down quickly to divert it out for a corner (49’). Germany finally took the lead in the 58th minute. Musiala laid the ball off to Gosens and the left-back slipped the ball through to a completely unmarked Füllkrug. The striker sent Turner the wrong way and made it 2-1. Things got even better three minutes later. This time it was Füllkrug’s turn to provide the pass. He squared the ball to Musiala who tapped it into an empty net from close range for his second international goal.
Nagelsmann made two changes after the third goal, bringing on Niklas Süle and Kai Havertz on for Hummels and Wirtz respectively (64’). Germany weren’t satisfied with three goals and looked to press home their advantage even further - in the 70th minute, Musiala found Sané, whose low shot went just wide. Julian Brandt replaced the latter shortly afterwards, with Leon Goretzka also coming on for Groß (71’). Nagelsmann made two more substitutions in the 81st minute; Füllkrug came off for Thomas Müller and Musiala was replaced by debutant Chris Führlich.