The newly ignited German football euphoria has suffered a small setback. The national coach Julian Nagelsmann, who at times complained violently, and his national team missed their second victory on the second stop of their controversial trip to the USA – in the 2:2 (1:1) against Mexico, the defense in particular was too vulnerable in a fiery atmosphere.
After a weak opening quarter of an hour, Nagelsmann initially saw a clear improvement, Antonio Rüdiger (25th) took the lead in the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in front of 50,000 fanatical Mexicans among the 62,284 spectators. Strong attacks alternated with serious weaknesses in defense: Uriel Antuna (37th) took advantage of a double drowsiness from Rüdiger and Niklas Süle to equalize, and Robin Gosens and Süle were inattentive to Erick Sanchez’s goal (47th). Joker Niclas Füllkrug (51st) struck back immediately. Nevertheless, a victory for Mexico would have been deserved.
Overall, the new national coach can mark the trip to America as a success: the sporting direction is right, a new beginning has been made after the dismissal of Hansi Flick. There were no serious injuries, but there was some reason to hope for a successful home European Championship next summer. In November, Nagelsmann wants to continue working on his game idea and European Championship team against Turkey and Austria.
Next door the Philadelphia Flyers played NHL ice hockey, across the street the Philadelphia Phillies played playoff baseball – the city celebrated a sporting festival. This meant a crush of around 120,000 people on the site and the access roads, and both (football) teams were stuck in a traffic jam. Anyone who wanted to watch the game on the German night had to wait another quarter of an hour until 2:15 a.m.
The DFB team often lacked the necessary calm
Nagelsmann, no longer in the premiere shirt that he will be auctioning off at the “RTL donation marathon”, but in inconspicuous dark blue, took it easy. He wanted to “end the trip on a positive note,” he told “ARD” before kick-off – with two changes compared to the 3-1 win against the USA: Thomas Müller, somewhat unfortunately, gave the only lead in his 125th international match, Süle replaced Mats Hummels, but moved to the right side of the defense. Jonathan Tah played inside alongside Rüdiger.
In the first duel with Mexico since the 2018 World Cup (0-1), there were eleven opponents on the pitch – and an extremely large number of Mexicans in the stands. Perhaps it was the music played after shots on goal that led goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to make a bad pass in the penalty area in a nervous initial phase, which went unpunished (3rd). Florian Wirtz (5th) had the first chance.
The German team lacked calm and consistency in the duels, Mexico had space, Wirtz and Jamal Musiala were without force up front. Nagelsmann clapped and cheered: And he saw his strategist Ilkay Gündogan take the game into his hands after 20 minutes.
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The second dangerous Leroy Sané corner within a few seconds was right: Rüdiger headed in from Gosens after extra time and while celebrating, caricatured the criticism of his jagged running style. The DFB team continued to combine favorably forward, but defensive vulnerabilities remained. Rüdiger didn’t clear properly, Süle remained too passive against Hirving Lozano – the score was already 1-1. Immediately before, Müller had scored a goal that was offside.
After the break, things happened quickly. Gosens didn’t stop Antuna’s cross before the second goal, Süle’s cross from Sanchez was too late. Füllkrug, who came in for Müller in the second half, scored a classic goal after a shot from the now much stronger Wirtz. Nagelsmann used the last half hour to play through a few personnel variations. Leon Goretzka also got his start, Kevin Behrens from Union Berlin became the second debutant under Nagelsmann after Chris Führich.
Füllkrug flew home with his BVB colleagues in the private jet that night because the game against Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga was scheduled for Friday.