The German national team wins its last test before the World Cup. But not all stars know how to impress at the dress rehearsal. The individual criticism.
William Laing reports from Chicago
The World Cup can come: The German national team has won its last World Cup test. In the hard-fought 2-1 win in Chicago over co-hosts USA, the DFB selection had a difficult time at times, but ultimately still achieved their ninth success in a row. Julian Nagelsmann was accordingly impressed by his team’s performance.
“I thought it was a perfect test for us in terms of the weather conditions and the opponents playing emotionally,” said the national coach on RTL. “Overall, I’m happy. We’ve won nine times in a row now. You have to do that first.”
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The German team got off to a flying start in humid Soldier Field. Kai Havertz took the lead after just two minutes after a fine Kimmich free kick. After that, the Nagelsmann team lost control of the game, the hosts became stronger – and deservedly equalized with a dream goal from Antonee Robinson (37th minute). Defensively, Germany was not always solid in this phase. Offensively there was a lack of penetration.
Karl’s replacement Sané scores the victory
In the second half, the DFB team got back into the game a little better – and Leroy Sané, of all people, scored the second German goal of the day (57th). The ex-Bayern professional was only brought into the starting line-up due to Lennart Karl’s injury and the resulting World Cup exit. Nagelsmann now praised the 30-year-old for his performance.
“He’s a really nice guy,” emphasized the national coach. “He just always has to go to the limit. And he played a good game today and scored an important goal.” An opinion that t-online does not completely share. Before his goal, Sané was extremely unhappy at times. You can read here or in the photo show above which t-online rating the Galatasaray star received for his appearance and which DFB player even became a factor of uncertainty.
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