Late but well deserved: Joker Niclas Füllkrug averted the defeat against Spain and kept Germany’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup alive.
With the 1-1 (0-0) on Sunday evening (November 27th, 2022) at the World Cup in Qatar, anything is still possible for Hansi Flick’s team in a final win against Costa Rica on Thursday – but it will be a calculation game. One thing is for sure: If you win by eight goals, Germany will be through, but there are also a number of other scenarios.
“Just awesome, that right foot”
Füllkrug also relies on this. “We don’t need to go crazy now either. But we can hope that everything goes well in the last game.”said the draw rescuer on ZDF. “We absolutely wanted to play this game, that was very important for the feeling. But we still have room for improvement.”
Thomas Müller gave the first compliment to Füllkrug: “It’s just amazing what wealth has for a right foot, he’s also a positive guy who exudes a lot of confidence. We all had anger in our stomachs before the game and now our task is to beat Costa Rica in the last game.”
Two changes to Japan
Flick had changed his team in two positions compared to the bankruptcy in Japan. Kai Havertz had to make way for Leon Goretzka, while Thomas Müller took the lead. The unfortunate Nico Schlotterbeck had also had its day, Thilo Kehrer came into the team as a right-back and Niklas Süle took over Schlotterbeck’s position in central defence.
Giant reflex from Neuer – crossbar hit
From the start, the Germans were out on the field a lot – but mostly busy running behind them. After just a few minutes, possession of the ball was more than 70 percent in favor of the Spaniards. The DFB team looked for duels, but often couldn’t cope with the opponent’s passing speed and was therefore always too late.
It almost took revenge after six minutes: Dani Olmo took a hard shot from the edge of the penalty area, but Manuel Neuer deflected the ball to the underside of the bar with a spectacular reflex.
First approaches by Gnabry
Only after 15 minutes did Hansi Flick’s team manage to move the cover forward a little and thus give the Spaniards less space for their flash combinations. The first well thought-out attack via Ilkay Gündogan, Leon Goretzka and a through pass from Thomas Müller to Serge Gnabry ended with a goal chance – but the goal would not have counted because of Gnabry’s offside position.
After all: This offensive presentation served as an encouragement and provided the clear realization that the Spaniards must be employed defensively in order to alleviate the pressure at least temporarily. In the 25th minute, this was implemented promisingly for the second time, but Gnabry flicked the ball just past the left corner after a bad pass from keeper Unai Simón.
Problems with Ferran Torres
During this phase, Germany caught up significantly in possession, but made life difficult for themselves again and again with too many mistakes in the build-up game. Ferrán Torres in particular almost took advantage of this mistake. His first big chance after a positional mistake by David Raum was just offside (34′), shortly after which Jamal Musiala threw himself into the Barca left winger’s path.
After a standard situation, Germany suddenly celebrated. The very committed Gnabry got a free kick in the 40th minute, which Joshua Kimmich circled perfectly from the right on Antonio Rüdiger’s head. No Spaniard had Rüdiger on the bill, Unai Simón had no chance against the headball hit from close range – but after video evidence the goal was disallowed again because of a wafer-thin offside position.
Enrique’s substitution leads to the goal
The Germans came out of the dressing room much bolder than at the beginning of the first half, the pressing became more consistent, and more players moved up when they attacked. Spain continued to attempt risky combinations from behind, which Kimmich almost capitalized on in the 57th minute: he scrambled into a pass from Unai Simón, but Kimmich’s shot brought the keeper back up.
Spain’s coach Luis Enrique reacted to the growing German pressure by bringing in center forward Alvaro Morata, which was not a good omen, because Flick had not found an answer to new impulses from the opposing bank against Japan. This time it took eight minutes before the joker stung: Thilo Kehrer left Dani Olmo too much space to cross, Süle was too far away from Morata in the center – and Neuer made himself small, as with the Asano goal against Japan, instead of the short corner close: 0: 1 (62nd).
Great opportunity through Musiala – then Fulkrug meets
Another parallel to the Japan game: Flick again needed eight minutes after going behind to react to the deficit, then he strengthened the offensive with Leroy Sané and Niclas Füllkrug. At least this time there was more time. Sané then immediately initiated the greatest German chance up to that point when he sent Musiala steeply, who only had to lay across on a filling jug in front of the goal – but tried too stubbornly himself and failed at Unai Simón.
But Germany still had a trump card up its sleeve – and it was actually called a filling jug. The man, who hadn’t received a single appeal before this World Cup preparation, took his chance in the 83rd minute: Musiala transported the ball forward, Füllkrug took the ball from him and chased it resolutely and untenably into the left corner.
Schlotterbeck saves against Morata
In the 90th minute, the entire effort was almost wasted again, but Schlotterbeck, who came on as a surprise substitute, was stable this time: he scrambled a great chance away from Morata and then celebrated as if he had scored a goal himself. A solo by Sané in the sixth minute of stoppage time would have almost meant the German victory – but Sané let himself be driven too far and thus robbed himself of the chance to shoot.
“We should have rewarded ourselves with the winning goal.”Flick quarreled after the final whistle, but drew an extremely positive conclusion overall: “It’s really gigantic what the team did today. I’m really proud. We met a team that is top footballing, on an equal footing. The mentality was outstanding. But we only took the first step, against Costa Rica let’s take the second step.”