Two goals scored, one prepared: Deniz Undav probably also impressed his chief critic Julian Nagelsmann in his gala friendly against Finland. The striker had to leave the field injured, but later gave the all-clear.
In the well-deserved 4-0 (1-0) against the 73rd place in the FIFA world rankings on Sunday evening (May 31, 2026) in Mainz, the VfB striker scored the 1-0 and the 3-0 (34th/57th minute). The second goal of this game was scored by Florian Wirtz (48th), Jamal Musiala scored the final score (63rd).
Undav then described his substitution in the Sportschau interview as: “Precautionary measure“After a few days of treatment he was ready for action again. Undav continued: “I’ve gained the self-confidence. Now we’re going to the World Cup to win the title, we’re hungry. We did a lot of things well against Finland, but we can also do better.”
Nagelsmann and Kimmich satisfied
National coach Julian Nagelsmann was satisfied: “It was important to say goodbye to Germany well, score a few more goals and take the fans with us. I saw a lot of good things, overall we can believe in our strengths even more and don’t have to become impatient so quickly. Now in the tournament we want to go step by step. Undav has shown that he has a top rate, with so many good preparers it is simply important to have someone who can get things done.”
Captain Joshua Kimmich said in the first: “It was a very good performance from us. At the beginning we had phases in which we became too impatient. But then we proved that we can score goals from many different phases of the game: from high pressing, from a counterattack and from a set piece. There was a lot of what we want to be.”
Karl is very strong, Brown is also convincing
With a view to the upcoming World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, in addition to Undav’s top performance, there were other important insights: Bayern youngster Lennart Karl played an excellent game on the right wing, while Nathaniel Brown proved to be a good alternative to David Raum on the left defense. Oliver Baumann was given another call-up in goal, he was hardly busy, but seemed completely confident – before he will have to make way for Manuel Neuer next Saturday (last friendly against the USA).
The Finns had missed out on taking part in the World Cup by finishing third in their qualifying group G behind the Netherlands and Poland – among other things due to an embarrassing 0-1 loss against Malta on November 14, 2025. But they made things extremely difficult for the DFB team from the start, holed up with all ten field players in or around their own penalty area and left Julian Nagelsmann’s team little room to combine.
Hrádecký reflex prevents the DFB from taking the lead
The Germans found the perfect remedy against the Finnish concrete in the 7th minute: the visitors’ defense was undermined by Florian Wirtz and Brown. Brown’s precise pass landed in the center to Undav, who aimed a direct shot at the free left corner – but ex-Leverkusen player Lukas Hrádecký parried the ball with a huge reflex.
The constant pressure from the DFB team continued until the 20th minute, the tempo was high, the ball circulated quite well through Felix Nmecha, Aleksandar Pavlovic and the offensive flanks with Lennart Karl on the right and Wirtz on the left. But there were hardly any dangerous shots; the Finns always got a foot in the way or blocked crosses. In the 27th minute, Hrádecký was asked again after a through pass from Jamal Musiala, but he shortened the angle perfectly against Undav, who appeared free in front of him.
Undav scores, Brown narrowly misses
Only a standard brought the long overdue lead: Karl and Joshua Kimmich quickly took a corner, Pavlovic missed the ball in the center, but thereby irritated the Finnish defense, which lost sight of Undav: From a standing position, the center forward, who had long been critical of Nagelsmann, headed unstoppably into the left corner. Six minutes before the break, Brown could have made it 2-0, but the Frankfurt player pushed Karl’s great pass just wide of the left post.
Shortly after the restart, Hrádecký was beaten: the defenders Ville Koski and Adam Markhiev wanted to deal with his throw playfully, but they couldn’t get any speed into their passing game. Undav suspected this, sprinted for the ball and immediately passed it into the middle – Wirtz just had to chip in.
Dream pass from Karl to Preliminary decision
And Undav continued to promote himself in competition with Nick Woltemade and Kai Havertz, who was missing the evening before because he lost the Champions League final with Arsenal FC against Paris St. Germain. After almost an hour, Nmecha won the ball in midfield and sent Karl on his way, who played an outstanding pass deep: Undav stayed ice-cold in front of Hrádecký and scored the preliminary decision. As he finished, however, he received a wild tackle from central defender Tony Miettinen – and had to be substituted shortly afterwards with an injury.
However, Germany immediately followed up. Karl lost the ball during one of his many refreshing dribbles, but Pavlovic switched quickly and fed Musiala, who presented Hrádecký with a fait accompli with a dry, full-range shot from twelve meters. Only then did Germany take their foot off the accelerator, but thanks to Maximilian Beier and Nadiem Amiri they could have made it 5-0 in stoppage time.
