The German U21 national team also lost the endurance test in England after a good start.
Coach Antonio Di Salvo’s team lost 3-1 (1-1) in Sheffield despite being in the lead and a courageous performance, especially before the break. Nine months before the European Championship, there is still a lot of work waiting for the defending champion.
Ironically, Felix Nmecha (35th) from VfL Wolfsburg, who grew up in England, scored the lead for the DFB selection with a header, which four days earlier had also lost against the young world champions from France (0:1). Folarin Balogun (41st), Conor Gallagher (47th) and Cole Palmer (90th + 5) made the turnaround in front of 10,735 spectators.
A German U21 suffered two defeats in a row at the 2013 European Championship.
“In the first round we had the chance to get even higher,” said Cologne’s Jan Thielmann on “ProSieben Maxx”: “In the second we were defeated again. But 3-1 is a bit too high. We have to by the EM pull together a little more as a team.”
Despite seven changes to the France game, the German team stood solid from the start and put the English under pressure with early ball wins.
The courageous start was almost rewarded: The strong Nmecha, who was still in action for England until the U19s, failed with a daring flick from distance (11th).
Youssoufa Moukoko and Jonathan Burkardt not there
Even without the departed goalscorer Youssoufa Moukoko and captain Jonathan Burkardt, the DFB team offered the slightly favored hosts an intense game at eye level.
The defensive took England’s shooting star Anthony Gordon from Everton FC out of the game with great effort. However, there were still few clear chances to score.
When England upped the tempo, the German team struck: Nmecha converted a sensitive cross from Noah Katterbach (FC Basel) with a powerful header. It was the first goal in the U21 shirt for the England-raised striker.
Germany with luck with aluminum hits
In return, the DFB team were initially lucky when James Garner hit the post (38′). Goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (SC Freiburg) then had no chance when Balogun equalized.
Then came the early shock after the break: Gordon played out to Kilian Fischer (VfL Wolfsburg) and served Gallagher, who only had to put his foot down.
Similar to France, the DFB team reacted too slowly after falling behind at transition moments and was lucky not to lose even more. Cologne’s Eric Martel missed the last big chance to equalize (73′).