A perfect European Championship qualifying campaign is in sight. Although the Germany U21 side have already booked their place at EURO 2017, they are still fully focused on the last qualification game away to Austria in St. Pölten on Tuesday. Stefan Kuntz’s side will want to increase their perfect qualifying record of nine wins from nine games in the match against Austria, who currently sit second in the group. Hertha BSC defender Niklas Stark speaks to DFB.de about the goal of finishing the group with a perfect win record and the game against neighbouring Austria.
DFB.de: Mr Stark, qualification for the European Championships is already secured. Is it difficult to motivate yourself for the dead rubber against Austria?
Niklas Stark: Definitely not. Games against Austria always have a derby feel about them, so you definitely have that desire to walk away with a victory and three points. We also know a lot of their players from the Bundesliga, so it will be a special game. We want to win our last qualifier and keep our record of eleven wins in a row intact.
DFB.de: If you look back at the impressive series of results over the last few months and the already-secured qualification for the European Championships, the team has had a strong recent period: what do you think the team’s main strengths are?
Stark: We just have an extremely strong squad. The quality is always really high in training and we have a deep pool of talent in every position. Within games, we can always look to the bench if things are not working out. And of course, we always look forward to our time together in the U21 squad. We understand each other really well and we have a lot of fun together, which is also an important factor in building a well-functioning team.
DFB.de: What kind of effect do you think the cohesion in the squad has to you on the pitch?
Stark: We work well with each other and we have a good collective mentality. On the pitch we always give everything for each other and we can also really dig deep in games where things are not going as smoothly as we would like. We know each other well from former junior squads and we have a strong understanding of what it is to play for Germany.
DFB.de: The Austrians will be fighting to earn second place in the qualification group tomorrow, even though Germany have already cemented their place. What kind of game are you expecting tomorrow at the NV Arena in St. Pölten?
A perfect European Championship qualifying campaign is in sight. Although the Germany U21 side have already booked their place at EURO 2017, they are still fully focused on the last qualification game away to Austria in St. Pölten on Tuesday. Stefan Kuntz’s side will want to increase their perfect qualifying record of nine wins from nine games in the match against Austria, who currently sit second in the group. Hertha BSC defender Niklas Stark speaks to DFB.de about the goal of finishing the group with a perfect win record and the game against neighbouring Austria.
DFB.de: Mr Stark, qualification for the European Championships is already secured. Is it difficult to motivate yourself for the dead rubber against Austria?
Niklas Stark: Definitely not. Games against Austria always have a derby feel about them, so you definitely have that desire to walk away with a victory and three points. We also know a lot of their players from the Bundesliga, so it will be a special game. We want to win our last qualifier and keep our record of eleven wins in a row intact.
DFB.de: If you look back at the impressive series of results over the last few months and the already-secured qualification for the European Championships, the team has had a strong recent period: what do you think the team’s main strengths are?
Stark: We just have an extremely strong squad. The quality is always really high in training and we have a deep pool of talent in every position. Within games, we can always look to the bench if things are not working out. And of course, we always look forward to our time together in the U21 squad. We understand each other really well and we have a lot of fun together, which is also an important factor in building a well-functioning team.
DFB.de: What kind of effect do you think the cohesion in the squad has to you on the pitch?
Stark: We work well with each other and we have a good collective mentality. On the pitch we always give everything for each other and we can also really dig deep in games where things are not going as smoothly as we would like. We know each other well from former junior squads and we have a strong understanding of what it is to play for Germany.
DFB.de: The Austrians will be fighting to earn second place in the qualification group tomorrow, even though Germany have already cemented their place. What kind of game are you expecting tomorrow at the NV Arena in St. Pölten?
Stark: We are expecting a lively game on account of the table situation. But as has been said, it is a derby and it will be a special occasion. The Austrians will be very motivated to try and beat us and end our undefeated record up to now, and we will give everything to defend the white shirt.
