analysis
The German national soccer team narrowly wins in Northern Ireland and is getting closer to qualifying for the World Cup. The national coach sees an important learning effect because the mix of atmosphere and opponent was unusual.
Belfast is a rough city. There are architectural gems to be seen, but they are as rare as sunbeams. A gray veil hung over the capital of Northern Ireland again on Monday. Many residents, including children, still walked across the streets wearing shorts and polo shirts in temperatures of around 15 degrees Celsius.
In the evening, many people put on the national team’s green jersey and went to Windsor Park. The Northern Ireland national team’s football is as rough as their country, the fans like their team to annoy opponents with far more talent, especially passion.
Trip to the Zero comfort zone
“It wasn’t that amusing to look at from the outside”said Germany central defender Jonathan Tah, who gave the opponent a “very unusual way of playing” attested. Nico Schlotterbeck, Tah’s next man in the back four, spoke of a “awesome atmosphere“, and this has also been unusual for the German national team in recent years, as it was almost exclusively used as support for the opponent.
At the 2021 pan-European European Championship there were only home games until the opponents England were eliminated immediately in the round of 16 in their first away game and home advantage. The World Cup in Qatar was a tournament under extraordinary circumstances, the audience was often unfamiliar with the subject, and the backdrop was correspondingly neutral. The 2024 European Championship was limited to Germany, and the German Football Association (DFB) selection was even allowed to play the Final Four in the Nations League in front of mostly their own fans in Munich and Stuttgart.
Windsor Park was a trip into the zero comfort zone, and as it ended with three more points in World Cup qualifying and defending the league lead, the delegation from mainland Europe was very pleased.
“It was all about the result”
“It was one fight. It was all about the result”said captain Joshua Kimmich. “We can get involved in games like this. This is an important learning effect, a big step,” said national coach Julian Nagelsmann. “If we take one or two steps less in a game like this, we’ll lose or draw,” he added. It would have been possible to lose points despite their hard work, because in the last ten minutes the Northern Irish pushed the DFB team into their half, using only force and a small amount of wit from Ethan Galbraith, who plays for the Welsh club Swansea City plays in the English second division.
Goalkeeper Oliver Baumann had to come to the rescue a few times to defend the lead created by Nick Woltemade. The striker from Newcastle United scored his first international goal. That is “Very nice because the last few games here weren’t that easy for me“, said Woltemade. As a center forward he is used to having little space, but as massive and dense in the center as Northern Ireland and Luxembourg before him, the underdogs are more likely to be there.
Only two games left until the World Cup draw
“We have to develop in terms of football, but first it was about other virtues“, said Nagelsmann, who can hope for two factors. One is a timely return of the injured Jamal Musiala, the other is an early improvement in Florian Wirtz’s form.
The gifted footballer has been involved since moving to Liverpool FC further in a depression. When he was checked to the ground in a duel without the referee deciding on a foul, he was hit Roar on. Fans in rough Belfast particularly enjoy scenes like this.
The game at Windsor Park was a good lesson for the German national team, for whom a combination of a mood against them and a strong opponent is only in sight shortly before the World Cup. After the two games in Luxembourg and Leipzig against Slovakia, in the case of direct qualification and subject to the World Cup draw in the new year, there will be tests against the Ivory Coast in Stuttgart and Finland in Mainz. That’s cozier than Belfast, but at least two more dates remain free to start another trip into the zero comfort zone, albeit not under competitive conditions.