2nd place instead of 4th in European Championship qualification
©IMAGO
The German U21s barely averted another serious setback in the European Championship qualification with two goals in the final phase. After the 2:3 against Greece, the German Football Association team won the away game against Northern Ireland 2:1 (0:1). In Belfast, after Ruairi McConville’s early deficit (4th minute), it looked like another defeat for a long time before Leipzig’s Assan Ouédraogo (79′) and Wolfsburg’s Dzenan Pejcinovic (83’/hand penalty) turned the game around.
As runners-up at the last European Championship, Germany improved to second place in the qualifying group after three match days and still has group victory in their own hands on the way to the 2027 finals in Albania and Serbia. If we lost we would have slipped to fourth place.
Greece clearly leads the table with nine points after a 1-0 win against Latvia. The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify for the European Championships. The eight remaining group runners-up will compete in playoffs to determine the final four participants in the final round. The German team continues in November with qualifying games against Malta and Georgia.
As against Greece, the German team, which was particularly weak in defense, got off to a false start again. The aggressive hosts won an early corner, which McConville took the lead with a perfectly timed header. “Unfortunately a blueprint,” said DFB managing director Andreas Rettig at ProSieben Maxx with a view to the Greece game. “Too little of everything at the beginning.”
Similar to four days before, the DFB team around captain Tom Bischof from FC Bayern again had difficulty getting into the game and had problems offensively and defensively. The Paderborn goalkeeper Dennis Seimen with a foot save and Noel Aseko from Hannover 96 on the line prevented Patrick Kelly from making it 0-2 before the break (39th).
At The Oval stadium, the German team exerted more pressure after the break. A goal from Mainz’s Nelson Weiper did not count due to an offside position (56th). Only the vehement final phase with offensive changes brought the turning point.