Lots of ball possession, little effectiveness: The German national soccer team started the Nations League with a draw in the World Cup endurance test in Italy.
In the 1-1 (0-0) win in Bologna against the reigning European champions, the DFB selection was convincing at the beginning and towards the end, almost half a year before the finals in Qatar. Joshua Kimmich (73rd) made up for the deficit by Lorenzo Pellegrini (70th) – and then complained: “It’s not enough for us, we wanted to win,” said the 27-year-old on RTL. “We know that Italy are in a state of upheaval and that they didn’t have a player or two with them. We didn’t manage to put our game on the pitch in the way we had imagined.”
Flick said: “The first quarter of an hour was okay, after that we lost our rhythm a bit and let ourselves be fooled. On the positive side: the team came back after the 0-1 lead.” In general, however, his team made “too little speed” and “too many mistakes”.
Germany missed their first win in Italy in 36 years, but at least Flick remained unbeaten in his tenth game in charge (eight wins).
Both teams will meet again in Mönchengladbach on June 14 for the second leg. Before that, the German selection will meet England, who came second in the European Championship on Tuesday in Munich (8.45 p.m. / ZDF), four days later it will be in Budapest against the supposedly weakest Nations League group opponent Hungary.
“I expect that we will set an example from the start. We want to show that we are on the right track, that we are active, that we die early,” said Flick before the 36th comparison of the four-time world champions on the “RTL” microphone.
When choosing his starting lineup, the 57-year-old caused two surprises: Benjamin Henrichs from Leipzig was trusted as a right-back, while Thilo Kehrer (PSG) was his somewhat more defensive counterpart on the left. They were given preference over Jonas Hofmann from Gladbach and David Raum from TSG Hoffenheim.
Flick explained that he also “had a hard time” with his coaching team when it came to filling the double six, which was formed by the well-rehearsed duo Kimmich/Leon Goretzka. In the end, gut feeling tipped the scales against “a team that is unknown”.
In fact, Italy is a European champion in transition: after missing out on qualifying for the desert World Cup and three days after the sobering 0-3 draw against South America champion Argentina in the “Finalissima”, national coach Roberto Mancini opted for total rotation. Only goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma remained in the starting XI.
DFB-Elf starts strong – and drops sharply
At temperatures of almost 30 degrees in the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, which was by no means sold out, the German team, which was made up of seven Bayern professionals, initially successfully tried to press. For the first goal chance, however, it required a single action. Serge Gnabry, whose future at Bayern Munich is unclear, tanked up on the right and checked Donnarumma from an acute angle (15th).
After that, the German momentum waned, technical errors crept in on the well-watered pitch, and Italy got into the game better and better. After around 20 minutes, Flick, who was almost continuously on the sidelines, shook his head.
Many of his players had last played a game three weeks ago, and this was becoming increasingly apparent. Center forward Timo Werner was largely in the air in his 50th international match, shots were mainly made from a distance – and often missed the target.
Italy turns up after the break
The newly formed Squadra Azzurra, on the other hand, became more and more effective. When center forward Gianluca Scamacca shot from around 20 meters at the outside of the post, national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was no longer there (35th). The best German attack of the first half fizzled out in the 38th minute because Thomas Müller in his 113th international match (number five in the DFB ranking) and Goretzka acted too indecisively and Gnabry missed the margin.
As the wave swept through the stadium after the break, Italy kept getting stronger, especially over the tall Scamacca. After almost an hour, the weak Leroy Sane made way for his Munich club colleague Jamal Musiala. Hofmann came on for Henrichs, who couldn’t recommend himself any more than Kehrer, whose side made it 0-1 (70).
Kimmich equalized with his fourth goal in the 65th international match, Joker Hofmann had initiated. The equalizer was the initial spark, Kimmich again forced Donnarumma to make a strong save (79th).