Germany played a worrying half, for example when they conceded a goal. Jonathan Tah passed to Jamal Musiala, who was not well prepared and had his back to the direction of play. The ball was lost. Antonio Rüdiger did not block the shot skilfully enough. And Manuel Neuer failed to hold onto a shot again, it was a mistake of the higher order.
Overall, the DFB team showed a shaky build-up to the game, defensive vulnerability, and needed a very long start before they got into the game – Germany presented themselves against Greece as a team with many weaknesses. But they won 2:1.
Higher demands, poorer performance
They may have found their role for the European Championship. In the draw against Ukraine on Monday, the team was clearly superior. Against the Greeks, the four Champions League finalists returned to the team, including the savior Toni Kroos. Now the expectations were higher. But the performance was worse. Nothing came together in the first half, and the German team got off lightly with the 0:1.
The root of the problem was the chaotic distribution of space in midfield. Kroos feels comfortable on the left half. From there, however, he can have little influence on the offense and the team takes on an asymmetrical shape. It is crooked. In addition, Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala fell behind, on the wing Germany lost the ball due to inaccurate cross passes, İlkay Gündoğan rarely got into the game. In the offense, there were no passing options. Kai Havertz was offside when he scored.
Greece could have led higher
Perhaps even more frightening was how open the team was on the counterattack. Robert Andrich did not stop many opponents on the way to the goal. Greece, who had not even qualified for the Euros, did not exploit all the gaps in the defense. The visitors could have led earlier and by a larger margin, but Neuer made good saves in these situations.
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In the second half, the engine slowly started to run. Rüdiger and Joshua Kimmich had to let a few strikers pass at the back. But Germany got new strength from the bench with Leroy Sané and David Raum. The equalizer to make it 1:1 came from a flat pass relay between Andrich, Gündogan and Sané. Havertz turned a little like Gerd Müller in the 1974 World Cup final. At least the striker can score without much of a run-up. The Greeks soon lost their strength and ended their counterattacks earlier and earlier. Germany took control.
Germany shows will to win
There were not many chances. Two individual actions by substitutes stood out for Germany. A long-range shot from Benjamin Henrichs hit the crossbar with a bang. Pascal Groß scored the winning goal, a skilful tap-in from fifteen meters. The substitutions did not seem strategic, they followed the motto: more is better. Julian Nagelsmann and Sandro Wagner hardly intervened at all, but let things happen. Germany beat the Greeks with combined forces, sometimes it’s the masses that do it. In front of the patient crowd in Mönchengladbach, Germany showed its will to win.
Germany has won three of four games this year. Under normal circumstances, Germany should also beat the Scots in the opening game on Friday. They also have a good chance against Hungary. We’ll see. But the narrow victory against Greece was based on an extremely weak first half. No one would have thought the team capable of such a mediocre level. And Nagelsmann seemed to have found his team in the two victories in March.
Question marks before the World Cup
Now there are question marks over a few players. When you see Maximilian Mittelstädt play, you can’t see any reason why Robin Gosens was dropped or David Raum is on the bench. Robert Andrich’s technical level is clearly below the required level in some scenes. Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala make some confusing decisions, perhaps the coach should choose one of them. Is Gündoğan always substituted first?
And then there is Manuel Neuer, who seems to have been affected by his own mistakes. His cheeks are no longer red, but rather pale. “I won’t allow any discussions to arise,” said Nagelsmann on the television microphone. The national coach will not succeed in doing that.
European Football Championship in Germany
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Germany played a worrying half, for example when they conceded a goal. Jonathan Tah passed to Jamal Musiala, who was not well prepared and had his back to the direction of play. The ball was lost. Antonio Rüdiger did not block the shot skilfully enough. And Manuel Neuer failed to hold onto a shot again, it was a mistake of the higher order.
Overall, the DFB team showed a shaky build-up to the game, defensive vulnerability, and needed a very long start before they got into the game – Germany presented themselves against Greece as a team with many weaknesses. But they won 2:1.
