The Germany U21s have booked their ticket to Poland for the U21s European Championship next year after beating Russia 4-3 on Friday evening. This win in Ingolstadt also allowed Stefan Kuntz’ men to maintain their perfect qualifying record – they now have nine wins from nine games. This means Germany can go into the final game of Group 7 against Austria on Tuesday with a maximum 27 points without any pressure, knowing their qualification is already secured. Tonight’s victory is also the Germany U21s’ eleventh in a row – a run never before seen by Germany at this level. The last time they lost was in the semi-final of the 2015 Euros against Portugal (5-0).
Captain Maximilian Arnold (11’,57’ pen.), Serge Gnabry (34’) and Davie Selke (36’) got the goals on the night, in what was new coach’s Stefan Kuntz’ third win in his first three games.
Kuntz: “Being a coach gives you gray hair”
“We didn’t really get our build up play right in the first half like we expected, we somewhat corrected that in the second half. Going forward we were good and that’s what the spectators want to see – as the coach though it gives you gray hair,” said Kuntz after the final whistle. Matthias Ginter added: “We made it more tense than it should have been,” while Jonathan Tah noted: “It was a hard game; we had to fight for the win. Therefore, I feel a great sense of relief.”
Tonight at the Audi-Sportpark in front of 7043 spectators, including DFB sporting director Hansi Flick, Kuntz was able to pick upon an embarrassment of riches, as Leroy Sané, Jonathan Tah and Niklas Süle rejoined the U21s after being called up to the first team recently. Also, in World Champion Matthias Ginter, Kuntz had yet another player with first team experience in the starting eleven.
The players showed their attacking quality right from the start of the game, as Davie Selke (6’) of RB Leipzig and Arnold of Wolfsburg (8’) missed early opportunities to put their team in the lead. Three minutes later however, the Wolfsburg man made no mistake, scoring off a cross from Mitchell Weiser to make it 1-0.
Spectacular end to the first half
The German defence were mostly switched on to the bold Russia attack but there were, however, still a few holes for them to exploit. Tah was called into emergency action and cleared from a Russian corner after Witali Lystsow hit the bar with a header. A little later, Marwin Schwäbe was in the right place to save an Aleksei Jewsejew effort (10’), while Lystow’s shot in the 21st minute wasn’t accurate enough to trouble Schwäbe.
From the middle of first half, Germany began to control the game better and almost doubled their advantage - Serge Gnabry hit the bar in the 25th minute and a minute later, Süle also went close. During this period, Sané was getting more and more into his game on the right wing and in the 30th minute, the Manchester City man went on one of his trademark solo runs but just missed the target with his shot.
The best play of the game until this point was Germany’s second goal, as Gnabry scored a volley in the 34th minute to make it 2-0 – this action also signaled the start of a spectacular end to the first half as just a minute later, Lystow halved the deficit with a goal from around 20 yards out. Then, almost unbelievably, a minute after the visitors reduced Germany’s two goal advantage, Selke restored it again and made it 3-1. Russia did however grabbed another goal just before the half-time whistle through Jewsejew.
More attacking power from the DFB Team in the second half
The Germany U21s have booked their ticket to Poland for the U21s European Championship next year after beating Russia 4-3 on Friday evening. This win in Ingolstadt also allowed Stefan Kuntz’ men to maintain their perfect qualifying record – they now have nine wins from nine games. This means Germany can go into the final game of Group 7 against Austria on Tuesday with a maximum 27 points without any pressure, knowing their qualification is already secured. Tonight’s victory is also the Germany U21s’ eleventh in a row – a run never before seen by Germany at this level. The last time they lost was in the semi-final of the 2015 Euros against Portugal (5-0).
Captain Maximilian Arnold (11’,57’ pen.), Serge Gnabry (34’) and Davie Selke (36’) got the goals on the night, in what was new coach’s Stefan Kuntz’ third win in his first three games.
Kuntz: “Being a coach gives you gray hair”
“We didn’t really get our build up play right in the first half like we expected, we somewhat corrected that in the second half. Going forward we were good and that’s what the spectators want to see – as the coach though it gives you gray hair,” said Kuntz after the final whistle. Matthias Ginter added: “We made it more tense than it should have been,” while Jonathan Tah noted: “It was a hard game; we had to fight for the win. Therefore, I feel a great sense of relief.”
Tonight at the Audi-Sportpark in front of 7043 spectators, including DFB sporting director Hansi Flick, Kuntz was able to pick upon an embarrassment of riches, as Leroy Sané, Jonathan Tah and Niklas Süle rejoined the U21s after being called up to the first team recently. Also, in World Champion Matthias Ginter, Kuntz had yet another player with first team experience in the starting eleven.
The players showed their attacking quality right from the start of the game, as Davie Selke (6’) of RB Leipzig and Arnold of Wolfsburg (8’) missed early opportunities to put their team in the lead. Three minutes later however, the Wolfsburg man made no mistake, scoring off a cross from Mitchell Weiser to make it 1-0.
Spectacular end to the first half
The German defence were mostly switched on to the bold Russia attack but there were, however, still a few holes for them to exploit. Tah was called into emergency action and cleared from a Russian corner after Witali Lystsow hit the bar with a header. A little later, Marwin Schwäbe was in the right place to save an Aleksei Jewsejew effort (10’), while Lystow’s shot in the 21st minute wasn’t accurate enough to trouble Schwäbe.
From the middle of first half, Germany began to control the game better and almost doubled their advantage - Serge Gnabry hit the bar in the 25th minute and a minute later, Süle also went close. During this period, Sané was getting more and more into his game on the right wing and in the 30th minute, the Manchester City man went on one of his trademark solo runs but just missed the target with his shot.
The best play of the game until this point was Germany’s second goal, as Gnabry scored a volley in the 34th minute to make it 2-0 – this action also signaled the start of a spectacular end to the first half as just a minute later, Lystow halved the deficit with a goal from around 20 yards out. Then, almost unbelievably, a minute after the visitors reduced Germany’s two goal advantage, Selke restored it again and made it 3-1. Russia did however grabbed another goal just before the half-time whistle through Jewsejew.
More attacking power from the DFB Team in the second half
Germany’s great attacking play didn’t stop in the second half, as after a dream pass from Gladbach’s Mahmoud Dahoud to Selke, the Russian goalkeeper brought the Leipzig man down. Captain Arnold took the responsibility of taking the penalty and converted to restore his team’s two-goal lead for the second time (4-2, 57’). Just like before though, Russia replied almost straight away with a goal of their own to give themselves a chance of taking something from the game - Igor Besdeneschnich scored from an Evseev free kick to make it 4-3.
However, conceding another goal didn’t unsettle the DFB Team, as Sané ran strongly down the right wing and crossed for Gnabry but the Werder player could only find Russia’s goalkeeper with his effort. Little by little, Germany managed to take the pace out of the game and had the ball for long periods. However, as the hosts were only within a single goal of leveling, the game remained tense until the end. A heart-in-mouth moment came in the 88th minute for Kuntz’ side, as Ilija Sujew hit the woodwork from a free kick. The score, however, remained as it was and Germany were able to celebrate a 4-3 win.
