The German U21 footballers are on the verge of being eliminated after a bitter defeat against the Czech Republic. A win is needed against England, but that alone is not enough.
Antonio Di Salvo trudged to the bench after the final whistle, then the U21 coach consoled his stunned players. At the European Championship, the German team missed the right answer on the field three days after the racism scandal and is about to end the European Championship early. In Batumi, Georgia, the DFB team lost 1: 2 (0: 1) to the Czech Republic without the ailing Youssoufa Moukoko – support from Rudi Völler in the stands didn’t help either.
“The team believed in themselves. You can’t deny that they gave 100 percent,” said Di Salvo on “Sat.1”. In the first half, however, there was “too little going forward” and the Czechs “made a lot out of little”.
On Wednesday (6:00 p.m./Sat.1.) a win against England is needed, and Israel must beat the Czech Republic in the parallel game. “We will play hard to win,” announced Di Salvo, changes are possible. “Players have recommended themselves for the starting XI.”
Center forward Vaclav Sejk (33′) and captain Martin Vitik (87′) scored for the underdog, Angelo Stiller had equalized in the meantime (70′). “We tried everything, the ball didn’t want to go in. It’s bitter,” said Stiller, looking for explanations: “We’re not lucky. It shouldn’t be. It’s hard to understand.”
Di Salvo had to do without the “muscularly injured” Moukoko. The 18-year-old was in the squad, but didn’t take part in a single exercise during the warm-up. “We took an ultrasound and you could see something there,” said Di Salvo before the game.
DFB team misses many chances
The other penalty protagonist, Jessic Ngankam, moved into the starting XI. Hertha and Dortmund’s Moukoko fell victim to massive insults on the net after their missed penalties against Israel (1-1) on Thursday.
In front of the eyes of DFB sporting director Völler, who arrived on Saturday evening, the defending champions got off to a hectic start, while the Czechs went about their work aggressively from the start.
Josha Vagnoman failed twice from behind (5’/21′), Vitezslav Jaros parried a free kick from Stiller (14′). At the other end, Vasil Kusej, who had already impressed in the 2-0 draw against England, was unable to get past goalkeeper Noah Atubolu (7th) from a tight angle.
Di Salvo suffered the first blow in his neck in his second European Championship game as head coach, as he did against Israel. Sejk used a spotless counterattack to take the lead, Denis Huseinbasic allowed himself to be overrun by the strong Kusej.
Unlike on Thursday, Germany missed the immediate answer and was visibly battered after conceding. Di Salvo reacted and brought in three fresh players in Eric Martel, Faride Alidou and Nelson Weiper in the second half.
At least Weiper got things moving in the center, but his first shot was too harmless (60′). Germany ran up – and stiller scored a redeeming equalizer after a strong pass from Henning Matriciani. But Vitik scored late with a shot out of the fray. Schade (90th) and Weiper (90th + 2) missed great chances to equalize in front of 5023 spectators.