Germany beats Ghana – late goal saves victory

Joker decides the game

Late goal saves victory: Germany beats Ghana

In the second test match of the year, Germany dominated the action for a long time. But the victory only comes in the final minutes.

A late goal saved Germany from victory in the friendly against Ghana. Deniz Undav scored the 2-1 winner in Stuttgart in the 88th minute. The DFB selection dominated the game for almost the full 90 minutes, missed too many chances and hit the woodwork twice. The opening goal came in injury time of the first half. Kai Havertz converted a hand penalty (45th + 1). Fatawu Issahaku scored the equalizer for Ghana in the 70th minute.

Three days after the 4-3 win in Switzerland with a magical Florian Wirtz, many eyes were focused on the recently shaky German defense. “In general, a clean sheet is always all well and good,” said national coach Nagelsmann as a route: “But in the end I expect us to win.” For this purpose, the national coach brought in four fresh players; he sent goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, left-back Nathaniel Brown as well as Pascal Groß and Nick Woltemade into the starting line-up. Leroy Sané and Leon Goretzka stayed out for the time being.

Germany got off to a very powerful and variable start, but after a great combination via Wirtz and Kai Havertz, Woltemade shot centimeters past the far corner (4′). Shortly afterwards, Ghana was lucky that Wolfsburg’s Jonas Adjetey was the last man to see yellow for a foul on Havertz (5th). Wirtz put the subsequent free kick onto the outside post in front of 52,723 spectators in the sold-out Stuttgart stadium (6th).

While in possession of the ball, the full-backs Joshua Kimmich and the good starting eleven debutant Brown repeatedly moved inwards, and Otto Addo’s offensively completely harmless team seemed overwhelmed. Given the constant pressure and counter-pressing that kept snapping, the lead seemed to be a matter of time, but when the rain started, numerous inaccuracies crept in.

After about half an hour, the fans loudly called for Deniz Undav, who stood up from the bench and waved to the audience. After a shot by Angelo Stiller, referee Stuart Atwell awarded a penalty after Adjetey’s handball according to video evidence – 632 days too late. In 2024, he did not intervene as a video assistant during Marc Cucurella’s legendary handball in the European Championship quarter-finals against Spain, this time Havertz took advantage of the opportunity from the spot.