Germany showed fantastic football in the last World Cup qualifier against Slovakia and secured participation in the 2026 final tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico with an offensive fireworks display.
In the 6-0 (4-0) on Monday evening (November 17th, 2025) in the Leipzig Arena, the game was already clearly decided at halftime – the Slovaks now have to go into the playoffs, which the Germans had threatened with a defeat. Nick Woltemade (18th minute), Serge Gnabry (29th), twice Leroy Sané (36th and 41st) and substitutes Ridle Baku (67th) and Assan Ouédraogo (80th) scored the goals, which national coach Julian Nagelsmann celebrated euphorically on the sidelines.
Perfect reparation for the Luxembourg appearance
From the first minute, the Germans visibly tried to show a completely different face than last Friday. The DFB team was ridiculed for a half by the pressing of Luxembourg, bottom of the group, and showed no idea of how to play before Woltemade averted the embarrassment with two goals.
This time everyone in the German team wanted the ball, they moved quickly towards the Slovakian goal with fluid combinations, and the two returnees Joshua Kimmich and Nico Schlotterbeck sent clearly recognizable messages in the areas of attitude and intensity with two sparkling clean tackles. “Today everyone wanted to make a statement”said Kimmich afterwards on ZDF. “It was a very, very strong game from us.” Nagelsmann was also very satisfied: “There’s little to complain about today, I’m proud of the team. We had a bumpy start to qualifying, today there was pressure on the team. It was a very good game.”
Kimmich shines as a flanker
Slovakia was extremely impressed. The team, which had caused a crisis atmosphere in football Germany in the first leg with a well-deserved 2-0 win, cowered anxiously at the back, barely crossed the halfway line and fell behind, which was completely deserved: keeper Martin Dúbravka punched a corner to Leroy Sané, who sent Kimmich down the right – Kimmich’s perfect cross was nodded in by Woltemade without being forced.
The Newcastle striker continued his amazing series in the DFB jersey: the last four German goals were all his fault. The celebration almost died down very quickly, however, because two minutes later the Slovaks had two great chances out of nowhere: First Oliver Baumann directed a low shot from David Duris around the post, then Duris fired an 18-meter shot just over the crossbar.
Gnabry fails and scores – then Sané starts
But the DFB team quickly got back on track. Woltemade sent Gnabry steeply, who was completely free in front of Dúbravka because of his foot defense (25th). Four minutes later he did score, a brilliant combination via Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leon Goretzka preceded his deliberate finish into the right corner.
The fans in Leipzig were thrilled, let the La Ola spin and sang “Oh, how beautiful that is” – with a clear emphasis on “we haven’t seen anything like that in a long time”. In fact, not since March 23rd, when Germany celebrated an incredible first half against Italy and led 3-0, but had to be happy about a 3-3 draw in the end. That couldn’t happen this time, because before the break Sané made it 4-0 with a brace – both times he used wonderfully measured passes from Florian Wirtz.
Nagelsmann spares the ailing players
At this point, Slovakia was just a punching ball for the permanently dominant German team; even at 0:4, the guests, with a chain of five and four defenders in front, endured one attack after the next. That didn’t change in any way after the change. Although the DFB team slowed down slightly, they remained highly superior in possession, in duels and in winning back lost balls.
The national coach was able to take Pavlovic, who was slightly injured, off the field at halftime and Kimmich and Schlotterbeck, who had previously been slightly injured, after an hour – that may have created goodwill in Munich and Dortmund. The fifth goal was well received in Leipzig – it was scored by local hero Baku after perfect preparatory work from Woltemade and Gnabry.
Ouédraogo celebrates his DFB debut – and how
Then it became almost cheesy. Nagelsmann brought in another Leipzig player in Ouédraogo, who was now celebrating his DFB debut after a year with many injuries. The 19-year-old offensive all-rounder from Schalke’s youth team was on the pitch for less than two minutes when he converted Sané’s preparatory work to score the sixth goal: That was the end of a football gala that had really never been planned in this form.