DFB against France: Henrichs is a discovery

This game can be good for a lot of things, but specifically it could have solved two chronic problems: Benjamin Henrichs as a left-back was the discovery against France, Thomas Müller was convincing on the nine – the individual criticism.

Goal

Marc-André ter Stegen: Practically not tested at all in the first half, only in the 38th minute with Aurélien Tchouaméni’s header it was minimal and decisive. In the 57th minute he confidently parried Thouaméni’s low shot again, then with a spectacular flying move he directed Antoine Griezmann’s curling shot over the crossbar (83′).

Defense

Benjamin Henrichs: Right from the start he was on the left flank and opened the scoring with a courageous sprint to the baseline. A very strong performance offensively and defensively, the fans in Dortmund celebrated him – perhaps he is actually the European Championship solution on the chronically weak German left flank.

Niklas Süle: Departure because of the birth of his second child, return to the team in the morning and then straight back into the starting line-up – but he seemed more stable this time after his disastrous performance against Japan. With Griezmann’s header chance, it was once again too far away from the man (58th).

Antonio Rüdiger: Allowed himself to be overrun by Randal Kolo Muani in the 20th minute and was lucky that there was neither a penalty nor a card for his push. Otherwise focused and with significantly fewer mistakes in the structure than last time.

Jonathan Tah: Had to or was allowed to play on the right side of the defense, which was unfamiliar to him. At the beginning, the winning of the ball and the loss of the ball were balanced. Overall, he protected his side well; cross runs were of course not to be expected from the trained man-marker.

midfield

Emre Can: Started the game a little sluggishly, but then made strong tackles and ball wins that his home crowd celebrated enthusiastically. Was extremely reserved offensively, but that was understandable against France.

Ilkay Gündogan: The captain won the ball in his own penalty area before the 1-0 lead – his effort put the team on track. But he had to be substituted early on after Adrien Rabiot viciously undercut him with a high ball – Gündogan never recovered from the hard impact in his lumbar region.

Leroy Sane: Very active and happy to run in the first round, even if not every pass arrived. But how motivated Sané is can always be seen from his effort in winning the ball back – this time he was great. He then made the preliminary decision with his ice-cold finish (87′), which he then put in danger again with his foul on Griezmann’s penalty goal (89′).

Serge Gnabry: Before the 1-0, played the one-two deep with crosser Henrichs, after which there was no move to the goal for a long time. But his commitment was right; in contrast to Saturday in Wolfsburg, this time he also helped defensively.

Florian Wirtz: Because Thomas Müller moved with his usual free spirit, Wirtz often found himself in the center forward position. There he was significantly more in motion than in the Japan debacle, he pressed more aggressively and consistently and repeatedly combined with Sané and Serge Gnabry. Actually had to make it 2-0 in the 67th minute, but finished too hastily.

attack

Thomas Müller: His starting eleven comeback after the World Cup disaster started like a fairytale with the early opening goal, strong as he broke away in the backcourt and shot with his left. Afterwards the leader on the pitch, “Radio Müller” was fully on the air and directed his colleagues. It is conceivable that he actually fought his way back to the number nine position until the European Championships.

substitute

Came after just 25 minutes Pascal Gross for the injured Gündogan on his second international appearance. He received a yellow card early on after losing the ball and a tactical foul, but remained mostly pale after that.

Initially, the duels were too lax Kai Havertz (64th for Müller), but then he knelt down and gave Sané the 2-0. Julian Brandt (64th for Gnabry) also showed great effort, but did not threaten to score. Jonas Hofmann (78th for Wirtz) and Robin Gosens (78th for Henrichs) defended well and helped to save the victory over time.