With a big smile on his face, Horst Hrubesch invoked the spirit of 2009. His team's performance against Italy was reminiscent of his 2009 European Championship winning side – always fighting and never giving up. "We fought our way back into the game and stood up to our opposition," said Hrubesch after the 2-2 draw in Paderborn on Friday evening. "The most important aspect for me was that we kept playing forward and kept looking to take control of the game." Just like the team did six years ago with today's World Champions Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng and Mesut Özil – to name but a few – pulling the strings.
In their penultimate test before prior to the European Championship in the Czech Republic this June, the German side showed their quality for long stretches of the match in Paderborn's Benteler-Arena. This was evident from the reaction of the roughly 11,000 spectators, among whom was DFB sporting director Hans-Dieter Flick. SC Paderborn's coach André Breitenreiter, Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking, BVB general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke and Fortuna Düsseldorf executive board member Helmut Schulte were also there to see Germany's U21 side take on the "Azzurrini".
Italy the benchmark
The U21 European record champions Italy demonstrated in front of this expert crowd that they are the benchmark stand Germany need to reach. The general verdict: "Germany is on a good path roughly two and half months before the EURO kicks off. Hrubesch's men recovered twice from going behind and nearly managed a late win against a physically and mentally strong side. "I was glad to see us create chances towards the end of the game," explained Horst Hrubesch. "We nearly even won the game, which speaks for the character of this team. We are continuing were we left of in the qualifying campaign."
Germany's U21s were unbeaten during qualification for the EUROs, but still need some time to completely adjust to one another and find the perfect formation. "It was noticeable that we still have room to improve," admits Kevin Volland while speaking with DFB.de. "There are moments where we still make the wrong decisions, hanging onto the ball for too long instead of passing it for example, or lacking composure with our counter attacks." But nothing that isn’t fixable from now until the tournament begins.
Final test against England
"We made some silly mistakes to give away two goals to the Italians", said Moritz Leitner, who converted the equalising penalty to make it 2-2 equaliser. "Otherwise it was a good test and we showed what we are capable off." The goal in the Czech Republic is clear: the title. On route to this objective they will have to face Serbia, Denmark and hosts Czech Republic in the group stages in Prague. Their final test prior to the EURO's is Monday night’s encounter with England in Middlesbrough (20:45 CET).
U21 returnee Matthias Ginter expects "a similarly intense game to Italy, perhaps even more so", as the World Champion explained in a DFB.de interview. "I'm sure that they will play strong players and a good team. We have to try and replicate our performance from the start of the game against Italy and try to avoid making the same mistakes." For some of the 23 players in the squad currently, it will be a good and perhaps final opportunity to prove themselves worthy of a nomination to the squad in the Czech Republic.
Maximum of 27 players to make final stage before selection
Horst Hrubesch announced that he will take 26 or 27 players to the final training camp in Austria before starting the European Championship this June. Germany's huge potential and large squad are quite astounding as was clear in their starting line up against Italy. Players like FC Liverpool midfield Emre Can or FC Schalke 04's Max Meyer watched the game from the bench, while FC Barcelona keeper Marc-André ter Stegen didn’t even make the squad.
Not a bad problem to have though and it's another similarity to the team of 2009. "All of these players are singing from the same hymn sheet and want to play a good tournament," believes Volland, who praised the quality of Germany's final two friendly opponents Italy and England. "These are great tests for us. They might only be warm up games, but everyone knows that both sides take things seriously on the pitch. After both games we will know where we stand and what areas we still need to work on."
