Group place 1 secured
©IMAGO
On a goal rush to America! A national team that has been transformed has shown all the critics and made qualification for the 2026 World Cup perfect with a long-missed football party. The liberated double packer Leroy Sané (36th/41st minute), serial goalscorer Nick Woltemade (18th) and Serge Gnabry (29th) eliminated all doubts in the first half – and relieved national coach Julian Nagelsmann of all playoff fears.
Ridle Baku (67′) and newcomer Assan Ouédraogo (79′) just two minutes after his substitution increased the score to 6-0 (4-0) in their home game in Leipzig against their helpless pursuers from Slovakia. DFB sports director Rudi Völler applauded enthusiastically in front of 40,120 fans at the shooting festival.
After the biggest victory and by far the best performance in a qualifying round that took a lot of nerves and energy, Nagelsmann can now tackle his big World Cup goals. The painful 2-0 defeat against the Slovaks in September remains a side note in the history of the four-time world champion. The DFB team finally celebrated “completely detached” with their singing fans again, as they did during the home European Championships.
Despite all the celebration of the victory achieved with team spirit, determination and a lot of fun, the deficits of the past few months have not been forgotten. In order to really be able to compete against the World Cup favorites like Argentina, Spain and France in seven months, Nagelsmann still has to do a lot of work.
As the last major official act of the year, the national coach travels to Washington for the group draw on December 5th. Then it will be determined who the three opponents will be in the preliminary round of the mega tournament with 48 teams from June 11th to July 19th in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Germany simply couldn’t be missing from the XXL World Cup. The world association FIFA has not yet officially confirmed the draw procedure. As things stand, it can be assumed that the DFB selection will be one of the twelve teams in Pot 1. Group duels with cracking opponents are therefore ruled out, much to Nagelsmann’s relief.
In order to escape the risky playoff grind – unlike Italy – the national coach did not shy away from any risks. Joshua Kimmich and Nico Schlotterbeck, who were recently injured, were back in the starting line-up for the all-or-nothing game. “It’s always a minimal risk. We wouldn’t take that with everyone. He has decided that he will play,” said the national coach before kick-off on “ZDF” about his captain.
Kimmich should get going in order to prevent a sleeper start like the bumpy 2-0 win against football dwarf Luxembourg. And it worked excellently. The DFB team had several decent chances in the first 15 minutes. Gnabry with a header (4th), Schlotterbeck from a corner (9th) and Florian Wirtz (15th) after a strong win over the ball from Kimmich did not take advantage of this. The offensively oriented DFB team left no doubt that they wanted to decide the game themselves and, above all, early on – and not speculate on a draw that was also sufficient. Slovakia, on the other hand, started surprisingly defensively and, as in the spectacular 2-0 coup in September, relied on quick counterattacks.
Unlike in Bratislava, in Leipzig it was the German team that scored first. After a corner, the DFB team was attentive with the second ball – Kimmich crossed from the right precisely to the head of Woltemade, who, at 1.98 meters, only had to nod off at the five-pointer. Nagelsmann’s emotional explosion on the sidelines showed how liberating the first goal was for the German team. The game remained fast-paced and attractive for the spectators – including the eagerly clapping Jürgen Klopp. A sudden lack of concentration after the first goal almost cost Germany the lead. Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann barely deflected a shot from David Duris (21′) around the post.
That was the only small flaw, because after that the one-way street football continued at high speed. Bayern attacker Gnabry initially missed a huge opportunity when he ran towards the goal alone, but he did better a few minutes later. After a pass from his Bayern teammates Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leon Goretzka, the veteran scored to make it 2-0 – it was a goal made in Munich. From then on it was all about the amount of victory. The German hunger for goals was unbroken and was satisfied every minute from then on. First, Wirtz sent Sané, who took off, from his own half – 3-0. Then Wirtz captured the ball himself and chipped it again to Sané – 4-0.
For Wirtz, who was in crisis in Liverpool, and DFB returnee Sané, this half-time was balm for the soul after many debates in the past few weeks. This also applied to the German fans, who had seen a lot of noise in this autumn qualifying – and this time they were able to sing “Oh how beautiful that is” with detachment and joy. After a good hour, Nagelsmann was able to take Kimmich and Schlotterbeck off the field with a clear conscience. The national coach hugged his strong captain with a smile on the sidelines and then watched as Kimmich’s deputy Baku also got on the scoresheet after a pass from Gnabry. On an evening when everything worked, that also applied to debutant Ouédraogo, who completed half a dozen.