For Nick Woltemade, the narrow 2-1 (1-0) friendly win against Ghana was a reflection of his sporting situation. Lennart Karl was self-promoting and a debutant in the starting eleven also did a great job. The individual criticism.
Alexander Nübel: Nübel was powerless to concede the goal, otherwise the Stuttgart player had nothing to do in his “home game”, which national coach Julian Nagelsmann had given him as a reward that Monday evening.
Joshua Kimmich: In the first half, Kimmich was the omnipresent man in the build-up of the game. From his usual somewhat more central position when he had the ball, the captain played a lot of passes, defended aggressively and often tried half-field and chip crosses – but they were received better on other days. In the second round he dived a bit.
Jonathan Tah: There was little challenge defensively, but Tah acted confidently in the rare dangerous situations. Wasted two good chances at the front of the penalty area, of which a central defender is allowed to capitalize on at least one.
Nico Schlotterbeck: Schlotterbeck made a bad pass in the build-up in the 17th minute, but unlike against Switzerland, it was not punished. The Dortmund player was in dire need defensively in the 51st minute when he used his leg in the center and good timing to prevent the score being 1-1.
Nathaniel Brown (until 61): With his speed, he repeatedly offered depth on the left side, pulling the opposing defense along and opening up space for Wirtz. Unlike Kimmich on the other hand, he held his wing more. The starting line-up debutant showed his good start and his impressive calm given his young age when defending against two counterattacks. A performance that should have opened the door to the World Cup squad at least a little further.
Pascal Groß (until 61): Compared to Stiller, the veteran was the less noticeable part in the headquarters, but did a rock-solid job and showed himself to be as confident in combinations and passes as usual.
Angelo Stiller (until 61): There were a few bad passes in the build-up early on, but none of them became problematic. Then Stiller got better and better, also brought one or two dangerous corners into the penalty area, was committed to the offensive game and had a lot of possession on the ball, but was not challenged much defensively. Shortly before the break, the Stuttgart player took the penalty, which ultimately made it 1-0. An overall decent performance.
Serge Gnabry (until 46th): Gnabry shot just past the opponent’s goal from a distance in the 23rd minute and was nowhere near as noticeable in his one half as he was against Switzerland. In the combinations, the Munich player proved, as always, to be a reliable playing partner for his colleagues.
Nick Woltemade (until 77): It was a symbolic game for Nick Woltemade’s current situation. Whenever he got the ball in the attacking third, things became dangerous for Ghana. The man from Newcastle United was a real added value in the combinations, had great ideas, created chances, but then missed them and was very unfortunate in one or two scenes. A player of his stature, age or not, has to use one of his top players if he wants to be seeded at the World Cup.
Florian Wirtz (until 61): The dominator against Switzerland hit the post with a free kick in the 6th minute and then scored what was supposed to be the opening goal in the 32nd, but it was disallowed due to a narrow offside position by Woltemade. Wirtz was also defensively, when necessary, fully committed in duels and had an enormous physical presence. The Liverpool player didn’t shine as much as he did against Switzerland, but he cemented his role as a leader in the German offensive with this strong performance.
Kai Havertz (until 46): Havertz caused Ghana enormous problems, especially in the first 25 minutes. The Arsenal London attacker was on his right side and could only be stopped by fouls on several occasions during his forays inside and was extremely inspired in the German combinations. Actually, whenever he had the ball it was dangerous. Havertz showed that he can also be an invigorating element for the German game away from the center of the attack and thus did a lot of self-promotion towards the World Cup. Crowned his good performance with the confidently converted penalty shortly before the break.
Substitute
Antonio Rüdiger (46th minute for Jonathan Tah): He had only been on the pitch for six minutes when he didn’t look good when Semenyo dribbled and couldn’t prevent the cross. Otherwise, like all of his central defender colleagues, he is not challenged as often.
Deniz Undav (46th for Serge Gnabry): Undav was loudly celebrated and challenged by the fans in Stuttgart in the first round. At halftime, Julian Nagelsmann brought the attacker onto the pitch. However, he couldn’t really show himself for a long time. And then it turned out that this Deniz Undav is currently on a roll, unlike Woltemade, for example. With his first chance, he scored the winning goal shortly before the end in true striker style.
Lennart Karl (46th for Kai Havertz): In the 52nd minute, Karl delivered a great cross to Woltemade from the baseline. Five minutes later he won the ball, left three men standing in a small space and could only be stopped by a foul on the edge of the penalty area. The Munich native acted carefree, lively and was an absolute asset. In the 85th minute, however, he added a number of missed opportunities. However, you can easily imagine the youngster in the German squad at the World Cup, especially as a substitute.
Leon Goretzka, Chris Führich, David Raum and Josha Vagnoman (all 61st minute for Pascal Groß, Angelo Stiller, Nathaniel Brown and Florian Wirtz): Not everyone in the quartet really did self-promotion. The quadruple substitution brought a visible break in the German game. When the goal was conceded, Vagnoman in particular looked really bad on the wing as he defended pomadig against Derrick Köhn. Raum had previously canceled the offside rule and was then no longer able to prevent the ball from hitting the middle. However, Leon Goretzka played a decisive role in dangerous German attacks on several occasions during the final offensive.
Leory Sané (77th for Nick Woltemade): Came late, but made it 2-1 with a courageous push and subsequent header.
