Scored four goals against Switzerland, but also conceded three: In the DFB team’s friendly win, there were some winners and losers with a view to the World Cup.
Oliver Baumann: If the score was 0-1 in the goalkeeper’s corner, he should have shortened the angle better. At 1:2 he was right to stay on the line because Jonathan Tah was close to his opponent, and at 3:3 he had no chance either. All in all, it wasn’t a great evening for him; he couldn’t really parry a ball.
Joshua Kimmich: In the first quarter of an hour, he criminally neglected his right-back position twice, once Kai Havertz cleared for him, then the early goal was conceded by his side. But Kimmich remained true to himself and was everywhere on the pitch afterwards, hitting good crosses and being a driving force in the build-up to the game.
Jonathan Tah: The opening goal was scored, the goal was conceded, but another goal was also prevented with a great tackle – the Bayern defense chief changed light and shadow in the first half. Due to the many Swiss substitutions (ten in total!) he kept coming up with new tasks, which he solved well after the restart.
Nico Schlotterbeck: The first half of the game was one of the weakest of his international career: before both goals were conceded, he initiated the Swiss counterattack with a bad pass in the build-up. But what sets him apart is that he can tick off something like that and then put in a practically flawless second half, in which he continued to carry courageous passes into the offensive.
David Space: If the crossing from the left was mostly left to Florian Wirtz, he could have contributed more. The 1:2 fell to his side, but after the change he was much more stable defensively and largely closed his side.
Leon Goretzka: His shot was too hasty after 20 minutes when he chased the ball over the goal from close range as it fell. He also missed two more chances in the second half, but what was still strong was how he repeatedly got himself into the final positions. In Joel Monteiro’s 3.3 he wasn’t close enough to the opponent.
Angelo Stiller: Weak defensive behavior on the first goal conceded, when he only gave Dan Ndoye protection instead of blocking the ball. Overall, not as noticeable as at his club in Stuttgart, couldn’t fill all the holes in the midfield and hardly had any offensive scenes.
Leroy Sane: Not in the game at all from the start, didn’t gain any speed and didn’t have any shots. He hardly showed the runs to the baseline that Julian Nagelsmann had hoped for. Because not much came after the change and his backup Lennart Karl was much more present, he has to be seriously worried about his World Cup ticket.
Serge Gnabry: An absolute asset in the first half, he repeatedly went into the dangerous areas from the ten position and stimulated the game. The way he used the Wirtz through ball to make it 2-2 was very confident. A little less present in the second round, but still with a lot of running work.
Florian Wirtz: From the start, he didn’t stubbornly hold onto the left wing, constantly changing positions with Gnabry, Sané and Havertz. The Swiss couldn’t cope with his genius at any point in the game; he was involved in almost every offensive action, prepared the first two goals and crowned his brilliant performance with the sensational goal to make it 3-2. Then he added the winning goal to make it the final score – an incredibly good performance overall.
Kai Havertz: Had his first chance early on when he played a one-two with Wirtz, but was denied by Gregor Kobel. He was extremely mobile up front and played very well, but in the end he also lacked the ice coldness that characterized him before his injury. Nevertheless, he should remain in the center of the attack, also because Germany’s offensive is never predictable with him.
Substitute
Nick Woltemade (63rd minute for Havertz) and Lennart Karl (63rd for Sané) were allowed to present themselves for about half an hour, which turned out to be quite different: Woltemade missed two good opportunities to make it 4-2, but Karl was immediately fully involved and brought speed and depth to the right wing that had previously been missing.
Pascal Gross (80th for Stiller) and Anton Stach (80th for Goretzka) found their way into the game well in the double six, Stach even put himself in the spotlight offensively with the decisive pass before the winning goal.
