Aachen (dpa) – Germany’s U21 national team will also deal with history on their trip to Israel and meet a Holocaust witness.
“Israel is a special journey, if only because of its history,” said coach Antonio Di Salvo after the 4-0 (3-0) win in the European Championship qualifier against Latvia in Aachen. “Experiencing Israel, absorbing history, that’s very interesting. We’ll also meet up with a contemporary witness, that’ll be super interesting for the team.”
The young footballers want to meet Holocaust survivor Zvi Cohen and talk to him about their away game on Tuesday (5 p.m. / ProSieben Maxx) in Israel. Despite the corona pandemic, Di Salvo and his team want to take as much of the trip and the country with them as possible. “If you have the opportunity to get to know a country like that, it’s fun,” said the coach. The team flies to Tel Aviv on Saturday.
The trip is also important for the German youth selection in terms of sport. Thanks to the 4-0 win against Latvia, the team has regained the lead in their group in the European Championship qualifier with a two-point lead over Israel, so a win would be enormously important for the desired direct European Championship ticket as group winner. “The group constellation is very tight and we know that we have to approach every game with great concentration,” said Di Salvo. “But we will recover well and want to win this game too.”