The German U20 national side have begun their year with an away win in Italy. Frank Wormuth's side got the international break underway with a 2-0 win in Tuscany.
Striker Marvin Stefaniak of third division Dynamo Dresden, who is one of the few players in the U20 squad with first-team experience, grabbed the opener, with Maximilian Eggestein of Werder Bremen scoring the second to seal the win in front of 1660 spectators. After going out at the quarter final stage of the U20 World Cup in New Zealand in June, Wormuth called up 15 new players to the squad for the matches against Italy and Poland (Monday at 17:00 CEST).
"We had a bit of luck here and there, but on the whole we deserved to win. We have a lively group of players who have only just got to know each other and who have only trained together five times. In any case, it's always nice to win against Italy," said Wormuth.
After a few nervous moments in the opening exchanges, the German team dominated in the first half. They fully merited their first goal, taking the lead when Stefaniak scored directly from a corner, but the Italians appeared to be working their way back into the game courtesy of several substitutions in the second half. However, the Germany side took advantage of a defensive error from the hosts to put the game out of sight.
Wormuth's side take on Poland on Monday
The team are therefore following on from the success of last season, when they won the tournament, picking up ten points. The year before, however, the tournament ended in disappointment for the young side, who finished with just five points in six matches against Poland, Italy and Switzerland.
Following the trip to Italy, the side will now travel to Wroclaw, where they will face Poland on Monday. The tournament comprises six matches in total for Germany and concludes at the end of the 2015/16 season. From the 7th to the 13th October, the Germany U20s will be the hosts of the Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup, in which England, Holland and Turkey will also compete.
