The Germany U21s put in a wobbly performance ahead of the European Championship qualifier on Tuesday. The Stefan Kuntz lead side lost 2-1 to Hungary in the Benteler Arena in Paderborn. The substitute Johannes Eggestein’s 65th minute debut goal was not enough.
“I told the boys that they should all try and enjoy themselves out there. The fact it wasn’t a perfect performance is understandable. We deserved to lose, and at the end of the day that's what happened,” said Kuntz at the end of the game.
Kuntz named European champion Nadiem Amiri in his squad, alongside Levin Öztunali, Thilo Kehrer, Waldemar Anton, Lukas Klünter and returners Jonathan Tah and Lukas Klostermann. Besides Klünter, who wasn’t involved in the European championship, there were debuts for Alexander Nübel, Maximilian and Johannes Eggestein, Tim Starke, and Luca Waldschmidt.
Germany push, but Hungary take the lead
The German side took control of the game early, and put the deep lying Hungarian defence under a lot of pressure. The first good chance fell to Amiri, whose shot from 16 metres forced Patrik Demjen to make a save. However, Hungary took the lead against the run of play. After the ball was won back, Donat Zsoter found himself in too much space in the penalty area and slotted the ball into the far corner past debutant Alexander Nübel (15’).
The next big chance fell to Luca Waldschmidt in the 24th minute, although his shot was blocked at the last moment by Mate Toth. Overall, the German side was not clinical enough in the first half.
Vida hits the bar
Hungary continued to pile on the pressure through their counter attack, coming close multiple times. The German youngsters barely avoided falling behind 2-0 after they lost the ball - Mate Vida caught Nübel off guard, who was way off his line, but the ball struck the bar and Gabor Makrai could only put the ball into the side netting.
“The team was very nervous and didn’t settle into the game that well, and we deserved to concede. We want to be more confident than we were in the first half, especially in terms of when we have possession and are in attack,” explained the German assistant coach Antonio di Salvo before the second half. Lots of changes were made for the second half, with Florian Neuhaus, Pascal Stenzel, Timo Baumgartl, Suat Serdar, Jannes Horn and keeper Nils Körber replaced Tah, Eggestein, Kehrer, Klünter, Klostermann and Nübel.
The new boys again also came close, with Fortuna Düsseldorf’s Neuhaus just missing from 20 metres out. But it was the man who came close earlier, Mate Vida, who struck a direct free-kick into the net to make it 2-0.
Eggestein makes it exciting
The Germany U21s put in a wobbly performance ahead of the European Championship qualifier on Tuesday. The Stefan Kuntz lead side lost 2-1 to Hungary in the Benteler Arena in Paderborn. The substitute Johannes Eggestein’s 65th minute debut goal was not enough.
“I told the boys that they should all try and enjoy themselves out there. The fact it wasn’t a perfect performance is understandable. We deserved to lose, and at the end of the day that's what happened,” said Kuntz at the end of the game.
Kuntz named European champion Nadiem Amiri in his squad, alongside Levin Öztunali, Thilo Kehrer, Waldemar Anton, Lukas Klünter and returners Jonathan Tah and Lukas Klostermann. Besides Klünter, who wasn’t involved in the European championship, there were debuts for Alexander Nübel, Maximilian and Johannes Eggestein, Tim Starke, and Luca Waldschmidt.
Germany push, but Hungary take the lead
The German side took control of the game early, and put the deep lying Hungarian defence under a lot of pressure. The first good chance fell to Amiri, whose shot from 16 metres forced Patrik Demjen to make a save. However, Hungary took the lead against the run of play. After the ball was won back, Donat Zsoter found himself in too much space in the penalty area and slotted the ball into the far corner past debutant Alexander Nübel (15’).
The next big chance fell to Luca Waldschmidt in the 24th minute, although his shot was blocked at the last moment by Mate Toth. Overall, the German side was not clinical enough in the first half.
Vida hits the bar
Hungary continued to pile on the pressure through their counter attack, coming close multiple times. The German youngsters barely avoided falling behind 2-0 after they lost the ball - Mate Vida caught Nübel off guard, who was way off his line, but the ball struck the bar and Gabor Makrai could only put the ball into the side netting.
“The team was very nervous and didn’t settle into the game that well, and we deserved to concede. We want to be more confident than we were in the first half, especially in terms of when we have possession and are in attack,” explained the German assistant coach Antonio di Salvo before the second half. Lots of changes were made for the second half, with Florian Neuhaus, Pascal Stenzel, Timo Baumgartl, Suat Serdar, Jannes Horn and keeper Nils Körber replaced Tah, Eggestein, Kehrer, Klünter, Klostermann and Nübel.
The new boys again also came close, with Fortuna Düsseldorf’s Neuhaus just missing from 20 metres out. But it was the man who came close earlier, Mate Vida, who struck a direct free-kick into the net to make it 2-0.
Eggestein makes it exciting
After four more changes to the German side, Johannes Eggestein made things interesting. He capitalised on the new Hungarian keeper Erik Bukran’s mistake to pull one back.
The Germans then took the upper hand, pushing for an equaliser. Hartel (66’) and Eggestein (69’) just missed past the far post by a matter of centimeters. More chances fell to Neuhaus and Eggestein, but they just couldn’t find the back of the net.
