IIn Frankfurt, the German Football Association once again got deep into the swamp of affairs on Wednesday, from which the association has been so keen to free itself for years after a number of revelations on dubious processes. The most important team of the DFB then worked on a liberation act of another act in the evening, whose image has also had a few scratches since the failed World Cup and Nations League tournaments.
After a game full of tough phases, but also with good moments, the team had to be content with a 3: 3 (1: 0) against Turkey and is still waiting for the first victory since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. Friends of the German team who yearn for high-quality football from the team went to bed with mixed feelings at the end of this football evening, but not only because of that. “Again in the last minute, that’s why you are now disappointed and pissed off,” said Löw on RTL. “That is a problem that accompanies us.”
The game wasn’t boring, though, which was also due to the Turks. After an early chance from Luca Waldschmidt, the Germans came under a lot of pressure. Emre Can blocked an attempt by Efecan Caraca who would have landed in goal (11th), three minutes later Yusuf Yazici missed another wonderful chance for the guests. With that the Turks had made it clear that they would be a most unpleasant opponent that evening. The DFB-Elf were forced to defend carefully and by no means too risky, and on the offensive Joachim Löw’s team had great difficulty in asserting themselves against these physically strong opponents. Apart from a long-range shot by Julian Brandt, which Mert Günok fended off (26th), not much happened at first.
A remarkable sign
This ragged team only offered good entertainment in certain phases. Kai Havertz and Julian Brandt, who harmonized so well during their time together at Bayer Leverkusen, often played too imprecisely and without any real inspiration. For a long time, Captain Draxler was hardly better. However, the three had a strong moment in stoppage time in the first half: Brandt played a ball from the center line to Havertz into the Turkish half, where the attacker from FC Chelsea Draxler staged a great pass. With a clever lob, the Parisian managed the somewhat lucky opening goal to make it 1-0.
It is a remarkable sign of appreciation that Draxler was allowed to lead the team into the game with the armband. After all, the attacker has had a season in which he “lost touch” at the club, as he says. The competition in the attack by Paris St. Germain is great, which is also true for the national team. Now he was the leader of a team that was missing a number of important players and that kept having problems. When playing with the ball, but also when defending your own goal. National coach Joachim Loew strolled through his coaching zone with his hands in his pockets; when his players acted too imprecisely again, he clapped his hands timidly to cheer him up.
First game, a goal scorer: Florian Neuhaus (left) scores against Turkey.
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Bild: AP
Hardly anyone played themselves in the foreground in the show for more serious tasks. Kai Havertz prepared the first two goals, that was strong, even if other actions were less successful. Debutant Florian Neuhaus from Borussia Mönchengladbach scored after the best move of the evening and a one-two with Havertz to make it 2-1 (56th). Waldschmidt had at least a few dangerous moments and scored the 3-2 (81st) in the final phase with a precise finish, and Julian Brand was also very present. The left-back Nico Schulz, who also has to fight for missions at Borussia Dortmund, however, initiated the interim 1: 1 with a bad pass, which Ozan Tufan scored from 16 meters (50th).
The German team was also not lucky with referee decisions. After 67 minutes, Jonathan Tah had alluded to Florian Neuhaus in front of his own penalty area, who was roughly knocked over by Karaca, who captured the ball and made it 2-2 (67th). Presumably a video assistant over in Deutz would have canceled the hit, but the technology was not used that evening. It was a somewhat happy equalizer because Joachim Löw’s team was in a better phase. And in stoppage time, substitute Kenan Karaman even made it 3: 3. “We invited the Turks to score goals,” said Draxler. “It starts before that. If you lead 2-1, you have to play it more confidently. We didn’t manage that, that’s disappointing. “
There has been a lot of discussion about the purpose of these test matches, and the game did not provide any real arguments for such events in the midst of the high stress phase for the players. But the players and coaches have already taken some experiences and insights with them from this evening. In addition to Neuhaus, Jonas Hofmann from Borussia Mönchengladbach and Mahmoud Dahoud (Borussia Dortmund) also made their international debuts.
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