Tel Aviv (dpa) – Antonio Di Salvo and his U21s gratefully accepted the short breather.
After a week full of setbacks, the young German footballers used their historic trip to Israel to relax on Sunday with some free time on the beach and a chat with Holocaust eyewitness Zvi Cohen before the first showdown in the European Championship qualifier. “That’s good, the last few days have been difficult,” said Di Salvo after the 4-0 win against Latvia, which put his team, which was under pressure, in a good starting position before the game in Israel on Tuesday (5 p.m. / ProSieben Maxx).
Di Salvo and his boys were particularly looking forward to his second official away trip as U21 head coach. “Experiencing the country, absorbing the history, is very interesting,” said Di Salvo. The team around captain Jonathan Burkardt from FSV Mainz 05, who was outstanding against Latvia, gratefully accepted the program away from the pitch. “It will be very interesting for us to get impressions from someone who saw it first-hand,” said Jan Thielmann from Cologne before the interview with contemporary witness Cohen.
From Monday focus on the sport
But by Monday at the latest, the youth selection wants to focus on the sportingly important game against Israel. With a two-point lead over their direct pursuer, the U21s could take a big step towards the European Championship with a win. “This is a very important game for us, it’s about important points in the table. We’re focused and ready,” promised Hertha’s Marton Dardai, who made his U21 debut against Latvia.
Poland, who are Germany’s last opponents after Hungary in June, is third in the group, four points behind. Only the first and the best runners-up in the group buy the EM ticket directly, the other runners-up have to go to the playoffs. “The group constellation is very tight and we know that we have to be very focused in every game,” said Di Salvo. “We want to win this game too.” In the event of bankruptcy, there could be a risk of missing an EM for the first time since 2011.
Goal: defend the European title
The German selection wants to defend the European title of their predecessors in Georgia and Romania in the summer of 2023. The clear 4-0 win against Latvia gave self-confidence and security after a week with almost a dozen absent sick or injured players, some late nominations and a lot of improvisation. “We tried to hide that,” said Di Salvo about the personnel situation. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf saw a “terrific victory” live in the stadium and praised the many failures: “I saw a team.”
The team was also proud of the good response to the staff shortage. “That should be rated very highly because it was also unusual. We had a lot of new faces with us,” said Maximilian Bauer from Fürth. The newly formed U21s now want to build on that against Israel. “If we win, we can breathe easy,” said Thielmann.