Nick Woltemade gave the German U21 to measure at the European Championship. The striker scored triple against Slovenia.
In the 3-0 win in front of 2,708 spectators in the Pod Zoborom stadium in Nitra, the man from VfB Stuttgart, who had only celebrated his debut in the A national team last week, got all three goals (19th, 42nd and 82nd minute) and thus ensured a perfect start to the tournament.
The next opponents for the team of coach Antonio di Salvo are in the group B Czech Republic (June 15) and defending champion England (June 18). The English duel of the two competitors around the group win won the English 3-1 against the Czechs. With the victory, the DFB team, which has been unbeaten since 16 games, underlined its ambitions to the European Championship Cup.
Woltemade: “Three goals taste good”
“An important victory for us, we didn’t know what to expect. Of course, three goals taste very good”said Woltemade at “Sat1”: “Such a start is very good. That was important for the team feeling.” And di Salvo explained: “It was a really good tournament start, which is not easy to play the first game.” After the good start into the game, his team lost the thread “But we did the important 2-0 at the right time.”
Tresoldi presents Woltemade hits
The German team put pressure on from the start. Nicolo Tresoldi had the lead on his foot in minute three. Zan Jevsenak unhappily with his head with his head exactly on the Hanoverian, but he didn’t hit the ball properly.
In the 19th minute it was again Tresoldi, who had the chance to lead, but he failed quite freely in front of the goal with a tight shot at goalkeeper Martin Turk.
Shortly afterwards, Treoldi did better by shining as a preparer. After a cross from Nathaniel Brown, he put the ball on the better positioned Woltemade, which pushed in to the short corner on the right. The deserved leadership.
Slovenia leaves a chance to compensate
Then Germany was in luck. After a corner, the Slovenes caught the ball and countered the Germans. After an error by Brown, Tio Cipot ran freely on goalkeeper Noah Atubolu, but the Freiburg parried the shot.
The lift gave the Slovenes. Germany lost access to the game and in the end it could be happy that it did not concede the equalization in this phase of the game. In this way, Atubolu reacted splendidly in a free kick that Svit Seslar pulled directly and hard onto the goal from the right half field.
Woltemade adds in Slovenian urge
But instead of 1: 1 it was suddenly 2-0, and it was a goal out of the blue. Defender Max Rosenfelder cheekily dribbled into the Slovenian penalty area and then fit on Woltemade at the right moment, who did not miss it in front of the goal. The Slovenes missed the answer before the break. After a flank from Marko Brest, Cipot put the ball completely free from a short distance next to the goal.
Germany keeps Slovenia in chess
In the second round, the Slovenes pushed for the connection goal, but the Germans worked well against the ball and stood compactly. And after almost an hour they had the chance to 3-0, but Tresoldi’s shot from a short distance was blocked at the last moment.
In a total of an overall second half, the Slovenes came to half chances at best because Germany held the concentration high until the end.
Woltemade meets a penalty
In the 82nd minute, Woltemade finally put the lid on it. After an unfortunate foul from the removing away Lovro Golic to Nelson Weiper, the Danish referee Jakob Sundberg decided on a penalty, which the Stuttgart striker converted confidently.