After increasingly dreary performances recently, the German national team said goodbye to the summer break with a top performance.
With the 5: 2 (2: 0) success on Tuesday (June 14th, 2022) in Mönchengladbach – the highest victory over Italy in the history of German international matches – the DFB team in the Nations League A now has the best prospects for the Victory in Group 3. It was decisive that Hansi Flick’s team showed an impressive reaction.
“A real stress test”
“You have to pay the team a huge compliment, it was a real stress test for us”said Flick on ZDF: “Wins are important because they are good for confidence.” Captain Manuel Neuer spoke of one “major milestone” and praised: “You could see today that we wanted to dominate the game.”
After three draws in a row, including the miserable performance in the 1-1 draw against Hungary, it was clear from the start that Germany definitely didn’t want to say goodbye to the summer break without a win. Timo Werner could have used the first advance after two minutes better, then Leroy Sané just missed the lead with a low shot from 18 meters.
room with the preparation
In this phase, the Italians limited themselves almost completely to defending, only had 30 percent possession of the ball and sometimes had ten players around their own sixteen. Nevertheless, they almost made it 1-0: Manuel Neuer made a strong save after just under ten minutes against Giacomo Raspadori, who appeared free in front of him from a short distance.
Germany scored in return: Niklas Süle served Werner with a long ball, who included David Raum in the game on the left winger. It was a good idea as Raum’s precise cross landed on Joshua Kimmich, who caught Gianluigi Donnarumma flat-footed from eight yards out.
Chances for Hofmann, Sané and Werner
After all: Donnarumma got enough opportunity to prove his quality in the following time: Jonas Hofmann in his home stadium (34th), Sané five minutes later and Werner shortly before the break failed at the Italian keeper. In injury time in the first half Donnarumma had to get behind him for the second time: Hofmann had won a penalty against Alessandro Bastoni, Ilkay Gündogan converted into the center of the goal – risky but skillful.
The 2-0 was the deserved reward for a top performance in the first half, but it wasn’t just the storm and urge of the DFB team that enthralled the spectators. It was also noticeable how, for example, Sané struggled in the defensive movement and when retrieving balls – it was clear to him, like Werner, that they clearly felt they owed Flick and didn’t want to disappoint his immense trust again.
Müller and Werner follow suit
The Germans then came out of the break a bit unfocused and let the Italians come into play. With a bit of luck and another excellent newcomer, however, the zero was kept – and in the 51st minute the lid was on: Thomas Müller didn’t hit the ball one hundred percent after an unsuccessful attempt by Alessandro Bastoni – once again Donnarumma went into the wrong corner.
Italy’s resistance was broken, but the humiliation of the reigning European champions continued unabated: Werner first refined a brilliant combination via Müller and Serge Gnabry, who had just been substituted on, to make it 4-0 (68th). Then just a minute later he even made it 5-0 after Gnabry had intercepted a bad pass from Donnarumma.
Gnonto and Bastoni score for Italy
Italy then had only one consolation: Neuer was only able to parry an oblique shot from Federico Dimarco forward, Wilfried Gnonto used the sweep to make it 1:5, and in injury time Bastoni also headed in to make it 2:5. That shouldn’t be decisive in the fight for group victory, but the next game on September 23rd – against the current surprise leaders Hungary.