U20s lose return fixture against Italy

The Germany U20 national side lost Thursday's game against their Italian counterparts 2-0. Frank Wormuth's team never really got into the game, which itself was never overly entertaining. Germany had great difficulties with the Italian defence, despite having won the reverse fixture 2-0 in Lucca.

In front of 3,900 spectators at the osnatel ARENA, Andrea Petagna put his young 'Squadra Azzurra' into an early lead after a mistake from Germany goalkeeper Marvin Schwäbe. Michael Somma doubled the Italians' lead after the break with a 55th-minute header.

"I'm torn, as my players tried to implement our philosophy on the pitch and gave their all," said Frank Wormuth after the final whistle, "but unfortunately we don't have anything to show for it."

Germany get off to a bad start

The game began very badly for Wormuth's side. Schwäbe cleared a back pass straight to the feet of Petagna, who was left with the simple task of slotting in after rounding the goalkeeper. The Germany side tried to force a quick response and were nearly successful very soon after. Luca Waldschmidt hit the bar from close range just two minutes later, but the ball stayed out of the Italian net.

The game was hard-fought and devoid of many chances. Nobody can deny the immense desire shown by the German youngsters, but they lacked the means to pose any threat to the Italian goal. "We took a long time to recover from going behind," the Germany manager concluded.

Somma's goal finishes off the DFB side

After the break, Germany returned to the field with real intent and had the first opportunity of the second half. After some good link-up play, Marius Wolf's ball couldn't find a team mate. However, in Germany's best period of the game, the Italians found the net for the second time, as Somma emphatically headed home.

Following another error from the Germany goalkeeper, Petagna was presented with a further chance to extend his side's lead and put the game beyond Germany. The visitors stood off and let Wormuth's team play their own game, but remained solid and assured, not allowing any more goalscoring chances.

"On the whole, I'm pleased with our second-half performance. The team gave everything, but we wouldn't have scored today even if the game had gone on several hours longer," Wormuth summarised.

The next challenge for the Germany side in the four-nations tournament comes on Monday in Münster. The U20s take on Poland at 18:00 CET.