Following their second win in five days, the Germany men’s U20s team have moved up from fourth to third in the international round robin competition, for the time being at least. Guido Streichsbier’s side were convincing 4-0 winners over Poland, in their last international fixture of the year. Germany now sit on six points and are only behind Italy on goal difference. Poland lead the table with seven points, but have played an extra game. Switzerland lie in fourth place with four points.
”I’m really pleased. We scored four goals, defended very well and gave the opposition very few chances. Overall, it was a really successful evening. We scored almost immediately after the red card and then doubled the lead shortly after that, which was obviously really good for us. But I think that we could have scored a goal before that point,” said Streichsbier.
Right from the outset, Germany built pressure in temperatures close to freezing point, with Streichsbier’s side looked particularly threatening out wide. Maximilian Mittelstädt (Hertha BSC) twice put in sharp crosses into the box. The first reached TSG Hoffenheim’s Philipp Ochs (3’), with the second finding 1. FC Nürnberg’s Cedric Teuchert (12’). The Nürnberg player also had a great chance to score in the 14th minute, but his shot from 15 yards out went just wide of the goal.
Ochs hits the bar, Gimber taps in
Apart from those opportunities, Germany lacked that final pass, despite their superiority in the game. The Poland team, on the other hand, had just one opportunity to score, with Pawel Stolarski’s free-kick going just wide of Florian Müller’s (1. FSV Mainz 05) goal.
In the 41st minute, Amara Conde (VfL Wolfsburg) beat the Polish defence after a long ball from the back and was then brought down just ahead outside of the box by Kamil Dankowski. The referee had no other option but to send Dankowski off for denying a goalscoring opportunity and award a free-kick to Germany. Ochs then hit the bar, before captain Benedikt Gimber (SV Sandhausen) nodded home the rebound to put the U20s into a 43rd minute lead. Shortly afterwards, Ochs (45’) scored Germany’s second just before the break. His shot from 15 yards out snuck under Poland’s keeper Damian Weglarz.
After the break, Streichsbier’s team continued their dominance and extended their lead through Mittelstädt (66’). Second-half substitute Leandro Putaro’s shot was then brilliantly deflected wide of the post by Poland keeper Weglarz (74’). Shortly before time, Germany then made it 4-0, with Weglarz this time having no chance against Fabian Reese’s curling effort from 20 yards out (87’).