European Championship national team
Penalty shootout practiced – three German shooters already confirmed
Status: 08:47 am | Reading time: 4 minutes
“We have advantages in terms of size and in standard situations”
The German national team will face top favorite Spain in the European Championship quarter-finals this evening. Former national player Jens Lehmann expects the DFB team to win on WELT TV: “We will either win 2-0 or 2-1.”
Germany will face Spain in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. The coaching team has already had the team practice penalty kicks – and has a prepared list in mind. The last time the German team had to take penalty kicks at a tournament, it took 18 shooters.
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It was already late that evening in Bordeaux. And now, when Manuel Neuer had saved the penalty from the Italian Matteo Darmian, it was another German player’s turn. And he had the great opportunity to shoot the German team into the semi-finals of the European Championship on July 2, 2016. Jonas Hector, who plucked up his courage, later remembered that someone came up to him. “‘Now you shoot.’ – So I did.”
Before Hector, who was already the 18th shooter, a total of seven players had already missed, including the Italian Simone Zaza with his famous run-up of 17 hand-counted little steps – and also three of the most accurate penalty takers at the DFB: Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Hector, who had never taken a shot from eleven meters before in his time as a professional, took action: five steps, a shot with the inside of his left foot into the right corner of the goal, not tight or very precise, but good enough to beat Italy’s national goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Hector scored to make it 6:5 in the penalty shootout. Victory for Germany.
Füllkrug’s record: 27 of 29 penalties converted
Eight years later, the German national team is once again in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. Their opponent on Friday evening in Stuttgart is Spain (6 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker) – an opponent that the DFB selection has not beaten in a competitive match since 1988.
July 2, 2016 in Bordeaux: Jonas Hector converts the decisive penalty for Germany in the European Championship quarter-final against Italy. He was the 18th shooter
Quelle: picture alliance/GES/Helge Prang
To ensure that national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team is prepared for anything, not only tactical things have been practiced in Herzogenaurach in recent days. The players also took part in practice sessions from the penalty spot.
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Nagelsmann said of the possible penalty takers in the knockout game on Thursday at the final press conference before the game: “We have a certain pre-made list in our heads.” Everything had been discussed with the standard coach Mads Buttgereit. The conviction of a player is important. “We have too many suitable players rather than too few,” said Nagelsmann about the possible takers. Three possible protagonists are set: Kai Havertz, Ilkay Gündogan and Niclas Füllkrug.
Havertz has already scored twice from the penalty spot in this tournament. In the opening match against Scotland (5:1) and in the round of 16 against Denmark. He scored the opening goal in the 2:0 win. The Arsenal attacker converted both penalties safely. Captain Gündogan has already proven in his long career that he can handle stressful situations.
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He converted 17 of 21 penalties, seven of them in the DFB jersey. Under enormous pressure, he scored the equalizer in the 2013 Champions League final when he and BVB lost to Bayern (1:2). BVB striker Füllkrug also has nerves of steel: he has converted 27 of 29 penalties in his career so far.
Seven penalty shootouts in tournament history – only one was lost
Who will play for Germany alongside the three shooters will be decided at short notice, and it will also depend on who feels safe. Five players per team will take part in the penalty shootout. If there is no decision after five penalties, the game continues with one shooter each. This was the case on July 2, 2016 in Bordeaux. When Hector took the field, Benedikt Höwedes and Manuel Neuer were still available.
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Goalkeeper Neuer will also be an important factor. He has already made 17 saves in his career – against Italy in his career. Against Italy in 2016, he saved Darmian’s shot as well as Leonardo Bonucci’s, who had scored a penalty in regular time. One of the Italians’ shots hit the post, the other went over the goal.
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The German record in penalty shootouts during a tournament reads well: the DFB selection has had to take seven penalty shootouts at European or World Championships, and has only lost a penalty shootout once – in the 1976 European Championship final against the then Czechoslovakia (5:7). Unforgotten to this day is Uli Hoeneß’s shot, which went way over the goal.
