The first hurdle has been successfully navigated, and Germany’s under-21 side now want to write the next chapter in their history against Denmark in their second European Championship group game this Wednesday. A win will put Stefan Kuntz’s side on the brink of the semi-finals.
>No team had a better tackle and interception rate than the DFB team from the first round of matches. Partly responsible for the 57% quote of duels won was Jeremy Toljan, who barely let anything get by him at right back in Germany’s 2-0 win on Sunday. Tojlan spoke to our DFB reporter about the win of the Czech’s and the upcoming clash with Denmark.
DFB.de: Jeremy, how did you rate the performance of the boys against Czech to open up the Euros.
Jeremy Toljan: Overall we are satisfied. If you had told us before the match we would win 2-0 then we would have snapped your hand off. A win to start is important. But we will have to improve our football, that’s clear. That was not even our best.
DFB.de: What exactly can be improved in the next game?
Toljan: We played far too many long balls from the back, and we would prefer to build up the play with shorter passes from the back. We need to make sure more passes in the final third are sport on. Finally we need to make the most of the chances we create, as we can make the game safer by taking more chances.
DFB.de: That doesn’t sound as though you are too happy with the first win.
Toljan: As I said we are happy with the three points to start of with and also pleased we did not concede. But we want to get better, so we can reach our biggest goal of taking home the title.
DFB.de: Did the mistakes in the first game have anything to do with nerves?
Toljan: Perhaps a little bit. But we shouldn’t be feeling any nerves. We are a team with so much Bundesliga experience despite our age. The lack of fluency crept in in the first few moments, but it got better as the game went on. But we are going to make that better against Denmark.
DFB.de: Do you think the coach will change anything up for the second game?
Toljan: That I don’t know. The coaching staff will have to think about that. What is known is that we have 23 stong players in the squad. The competition for places in training is high because every single one of us wants to play. Everyone is giving it their all and wants to show that no one can be sure of their place.
DFB.de: How do you look at your role as a right back?
Toljan: First of all I am a defender. I want to make sure the team is protected and no one should get in behind me. But I also need to look at how I can help the team going forward, and finding the balance between defence and attack is my challenge -staying defensively strong but looking to help my teammates create chances.
DFB.de: How do you expect Denmark to line up?
Toljan: They will be a similar opponent to Denmark, very compact. They will look to get away on the counter attack if they can. We will assess that in our analysis of them. They kept Italy to 0 for a good hour and they will make it difficult for our attacking line.
DFB.de: If both you and Italy win your games on Wednesday then it will be a showdown with the Azzurri to top the group on Saturday. Are you already thinking a bit about that game?
Toljan: Obviously we hope we are in the situation to play for the right to win the group on Saturday against Italy. But we also want to take things step by step and match by match. We do not want to let anything slip. Denmark have a lot of quality, so we are focusing on that game completely and then we’ll focus on the Italy game at the right time.
DFB.de: Denmark seem to struggle somewhat against Germany. In the nine previous clashes Germany have won five and the Scandinavians have only won once. That was 24 years ago - do these stats play a role in your preparations?
Toljan: Absolutely 100% not. At under-21 level teams are constantly changing year on year so there is no point in looking at past stats - that’s only for Journalists- Of course we want to keep that good run against them going, and we’ll be doing everything we can to get the win.
created by ms
The first hurdle has been successfully navigated, and Germany’s under-21 side now want to write the next chapter in their history against Denmark in their second European Championship group game this Wednesday. A win will put Stefan Kuntz’s side on the brink of the semi-finals.
>No team had a better tackle and interception rate than the DFB team from the first round of matches. Partly responsible for the 57% quote of duels won was Jeremy Toljan, who barely let anything get by him at right back in Germany’s 2-0 win on Sunday. Tojlan spoke to our DFB reporter about the win of the Czech’s and the upcoming clash with Denmark.
DFB.de: Jeremy, how did you rate the performance of the boys against Czech to open up the Euros.
Jeremy Toljan: Overall we are satisfied. If you had told us before the match we would win 2-0 then we would have snapped your hand off. A win to start is important. But we will have to improve our football, that’s clear. That was not even our best.
DFB.de: What exactly can be improved in the next game?
Toljan: We played far too many long balls from the back, and we would prefer to build up the play with shorter passes from the back. We need to make sure more passes in the final third are sport on. Finally we need to make the most of the chances we create, as we can make the game safer by taking more chances.
DFB.de: That doesn’t sound as though you are too happy with the first win.
Toljan: As I said we are happy with the three points to start of with and also pleased we did not concede. But we want to get better, so we can reach our biggest goal of taking home the title.
DFB.de: Did the mistakes in the first game have anything to do with nerves?
Toljan: Perhaps a little bit. But we shouldn’t be feeling any nerves. We are a team with so much Bundesliga experience despite our age. The lack of fluency crept in in the first few moments, but it got better as the game went on. But we are going to make that better against Denmark.
DFB.de: Do you think the coach will change anything up for the second game?
Toljan: That I don’t know. The coaching staff will have to think about that. What is known is that we have 23 stong players in the squad. The competition for places in training is high because every single one of us wants to play. Everyone is giving it their all and wants to show that no one can be sure of their place.
DFB.de: How do you look at your role as a right back?
Toljan: First of all I am a defender. I want to make sure the team is protected and no one should get in behind me. But I also need to look at how I can help the team going forward, and finding the balance between defence and attack is my challenge -staying defensively strong but looking to help my teammates create chances.
DFB.de: How do you expect Denmark to line up?
Toljan: They will be a similar opponent to Denmark, very compact. They will look to get away on the counter attack if they can. We will assess that in our analysis of them. They kept Italy to 0 for a good hour and they will make it difficult for our attacking line.
DFB.de: If both you and Italy win your games on Wednesday then it will be a showdown with the Azzurri to top the group on Saturday. Are you already thinking a bit about that game?
Toljan: Obviously we hope we are in the situation to play for the right to win the group on Saturday against Italy. But we also want to take things step by step and match by match. We do not want to let anything slip. Denmark have a lot of quality, so we are focusing on that game completely and then we’ll focus on the Italy game at the right time.
DFB.de: Denmark seem to struggle somewhat against Germany. In the nine previous clashes Germany have won five and the Scandinavians have only won once. That was 24 years ago - do these stats play a role in your preparations?
Toljan: Absolutely 100% not. At under-21 level teams are constantly changing year on year so there is no point in looking at past stats - that’s only for Journalists- Of course we want to keep that good run against them going, and we’ll be doing everything we can to get the win.
