analysis
The German U21 selection at the European Championship also had bad luck against the outsiders Israel and the Czech Republic – but also revealed weaknesses.
In the end, only the principle of hope and perseverance slogans remained. “We have to win against England now, no matter how,” said goal scorer Angelo Stiller after the German U21 team’s 2-1 (0-1) win against the Czech Republic in the second group game of the European Championship on Sunday (June 25, 2023) on the sports show microphone.
A point from the games against outsiders Israel and the Czech Republic. Too little. In the last game on Wednesday against England (6 p.m. in the live ticker at sportschau.de) a win is needed – and at the same time the Czech Republic has to lose to Israel. And then for the DFB team it would also depend on the goal difference compared to Israel.
Great embarrassment threatens
“Of course, this is not a fun situation,” said U21 coach Antonio Di Salvo to Sportschau. And Tom Krauss said soberly: “We have to face it now. In any case, we don’t want to go home with a point.” It would be a real disgrace. However, there seems to be little that can really give hope to the German team.
There was playful dominance in both European Championship games, almost 70 percent ball possession in each case, the significantly larger number of chances. But in the end that was not enough. “Czech Republic makes a lot out of little effort. We make little out of a lot of effort,” scorer Stiller aptly described the misery in game two. As in the 1-1 draw against Israel, the effort and income did not come close to matching.
Counters and standards as knockout criteria
“We came from the flanks,” Stiller said of the efforts against the Czech Republic: “Few came. We didn’t do those that came.” Purpose and accuracy are the themes of the German U21s on the offensive. Only in the final phase, when the team threw everything forward against the Czech Republic, did the opposing defense wobble a bit.
And on the other hand, the German team is too vulnerable. She has conceded three goals in two games against outsiders. Two counterattacks and a standard were enough to ensure the sobering results. “That must not happen to us,” Krauss said in a Sportschau interview about the counterattack that led to the 1-0 defeat against the Czech Republic: “That wasn’t a good remaining defense.”
Hope – for example on Moukoko
Coach Di Salvo also said very clearly: “The Czech Republic did a good job with the goal. But we still can’t concede that after a corner kick of our own.” A little too little at the front, a little too little at the back – for a successful EM mission, that’s obviously far too little overall at the international level.
And so before the decisive game against England, only the principle of hope remains. For example, that the ailing Youssoufa Moukoko can play up front again and then score. Or that the defense is smarter about the pace of the opponents. Or just that suddenly everything fits. “We have to channel all our strength for the last game and then I think we can do it,” said captain Yann Aurel Bisseck to Sportschau.