The Germany U19s are back on track in their quest to reach the semi finals of the U19 European Championship. They lost their opening game 3-0 against Spain but won a tight encounter against the Netherlands. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Gianluca Rizzo scored the only goal of the game in injury time.
Group B is incredibly tense going into the final game. Each of the four sides have three points and have realistic hopes of reaching the semis. As it stands Germany are bottom, by virtue of having a weaker goal difference than their counterparts. They face Russia on Monday (20:00 CEST).
Marcus Sorg made two changes to the side that faced Spain. Luca Waldschmidt and Max Christiansen replaced Lucas Cueto and Boubacar Barry.
The DFB Team fell behind early on against Spain but captain Jonathan Tah’s side started strongly and could have taken the lead with their first attack but Waldschmidt from inside the area after just two minutes. 3,800 spectators watched on in Katerini.
Sané misses huge chance
Leroy Sané had Germany’s best chance after 11 minutes. Timo Werner played him in with a wonderful through ball but the Schalke star failed to get the ball probably under control and the Dutch defence did well to recover and sniff out the danger. The DFB Team’s tidy play in the middle was proving too hot to handle but they were wasteful in front of goal throughout the first period. Nadiem Amiri was the next player to miscue, when presented with a glorious opportunity on the edge of the box (22’). The Netherlands’ only real chance of the half fell to Pelle van Amersfoort but his 41st minute effort lacked conviction.
Rizzo saves the day
Germany continued to put the Netherlands under pressure throughout the second half and could have opened the scoring two minute into the second period but Sané’s snapshot was kept out. Werner tried his luck moments later but the outcome was the same.
Goalkeeper Patrick Funk was rarely tested but had to be at his best to keep out a powerful drive from van Amersfoort. Sorg made two changes late on in the game in the hope of pressing for the winner. Rizzo and Cueto replaced Waldschmidt and Kehrer.
Hansi Flick, Horst Hrubesch, Guido Streichsbier and Frank Engel watched on as the U19s looked for the solitary goal which would surely give them victory: Freiburg’s Jonas Föhrenbach had a close range effort blocked but Rizzo fired home soon afterwards to give Sorg’s men a hugely deserved victory.