Successful debut for national coach Julian Nagelsmann: The German national team came from behind to win 3-1 against the USA and was largely convincing.
İlkay Gündoğan (39th), Niclas Füllkrug (58th) and Jamal Musiala (61st) scored the goals for Germany on Saturday (October 14th, 2023) in Hartford/Connecticut after Christian Pulišić had put the USA in the lead (27th). .
It was a deserved victory about eight months before the opening game of the European Championship because the selection from the German Football Association (DFB) was particularly convincing in the second half and was clearly better. Before the break, there were well-known deficiencies in the defense, also due to the coach’s tactics being a bit too bold, but he successfully corrected himself.
“I’m very happy with my football. We created a lot of chances that were also of good quality.”said the national coach in an interview with Sportschau. He complained that his team had too little patience in the first half. As a result, the ball was often lost: “In the second half the structure was much better, the patience was much better.” The fact that his team came back after being behind is “It wasn’t entirely natural after the last few months”.
Goalscorer Füllkrug told Sportschau: “This is definitely a win we can build on.” He also admitted that initially “the processes didn’t quite fit.” But no one can demand that, Nagelsmann is a coach “lots of ideas”.
Musiala and Wirtz in the attacking midfield
With Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, Nagelsmann had lined up the two most promising young German footballers next to each other in a team that was on average quite old. Six players in the starting eleven were 30 years old or older, including Mats Hummels, who played an international match for the first time since the European Championship round of 16 against England in June 2021.
Pascal Groß and captain İlkay Gündoğan formed the defensive midfield, with Joshua Kimmich missing due to a flu-like infection. The illness had worsened overnight with chills and fever, so a decision was made. Kimmich to fly home. He will also be missing against Mexico on Wednesday (October 18, 2023).
Almost 40,000 spectators saw an attractive game from the start because both teams have their strengths on offense and posed problems for the opposing defenses. Some USA players, especially Timothy Weah from Juventus Turin, impressed with their speed. Former Dortmund player Pulišić, who was involved in almost all of the Americans’ good actions, was also in a brilliant mood.
Big on the post, Füllkrug misses two big chances
Even before his goal to make it 1-0, Pulišić had a good chance, but there were also several for the German team, which, thanks to its early attack, often won the ball near the US goal, but also opened up space for counterattacks through its pressing. Groß shot at the post (11th), center forward Niclas Füllkrug failed twice from a promising position (22nd, 27th).
Dortmund’s second missed shot was punished by Pulišić, who initiated the attack himself and then, after a solo past the sluggish Jonathan Tah and Mats Hummels, scored into the corner of the goal from 18 meters (27′).
Sané with impressive and successful dribbling
For a long time, the most noticeable player in the DFB selection was Leroy Sané. The Munich player often got the ball on the right side near the touchline, then dribbled inside and tied up several opponents. In this way, Sané played a crucial role in the equalizer. After a successful dribble, he played a one-two with Gündoğan and then stood in front of Matt Turner. The USA goalkeeper wiped the ball off his foot, but Gündoğan scored from close range to make it 1-1 (39′).
Different tactics after the break
The second half began with Füllkrug’s third opportunity. Turner, under contract with Nottingham Forest, fended off the center forward’s shot (49′). But he shouldn’t have a chance the fourth time. Füllkrug deliberately pushed it into the right corner after being perfectly served by Robin Gosens (58th). It was the former Bremen player’s eighth goal in his tenth international match.
Germany dominated after the break because Nagelsmann had adjusted his tactics. There were no longer so many players attacking far up front, but mostly only on the halfway line. That was good for the DFB team’s game because the USA had much less space in midfield to get the ball and pick up speed.
It was also important “That we didn’t give the ball away so easily anymore”said Gündoğan to the sports show, “The balance was significantly better in the second half”. The captain continues: “For the short amount of time we’ve only had so far, we’ve done a lot of good things.”
Musiala follows up
Just three minutes after making it 3-1, Germany followed up. Füllkrug put the ball past Turner, Musiala, who had also noticed a lot of dribbling, pushed the ball over the line.
Of the three newcomers in Nagelsmann’s 26-player first squad, Chris Führich was the first to make his debut. The Stuttgart player came on as a substitute for Musiala in the 81st minute when the game was already winding down.
Game against Mexico live on the first
In the second game of the trip, Germany will face Mexico in Philadelphia on Wednesday at 2 a.m. German time. The game will be shown live on Erste and in the stream on sportschau.de. Due to the kick-off time, a detailed summary will be shown on Das Erste from 9:05 a.m.
The last international matches of the year will be played on November 18th in Berlin against Turkey and three days later in Vienna against Austria.