The DFB team goes into the last two games of the international match year 2020 with the feeling of victory. Against a hard-working, but offensively harmless Czech team, Joachim Löw’s team came to a 1-0 win, which was more telling than the result says . Two of the most noticeable appearances of the evening were two debutants who made merit as full-backs: left-back Philipp Max, 27, and right-back Ridle Baku, 22, who never gave the feeling that the ball was burning on their feet. The “dark clouds” that national team manager Oliver Bierhoff had spotted on Monday in his capacity as DFB weather fairy did not cast a shadow over these two.
The DFB team, which only won the second victory in 2020, often found it difficult to string three passes together at the beginning – a result of the lack of integration between the eleven players that national coach Joachim Löw brought up. “The fact is that we probably no longer play together in the constellation,” said Löw. “Still, the guys got involved, so you can be satisfied. We did well in the first half, but we should have made it 2-0 in the second.” The strong Florian Neuhaus agreed: “But we missed the second goal and made life difficult for us.”
Out of consideration for various major clubs on the continent, Löw did without regular players such as Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) or Timo Werner (FC Chelsea) for the test match. How inexperienced the starting XI was, not only in terms of teamwork, but also in principle, could be seen from a statistical value: Including the game on Wednesday, Löw’s first team only had 143 internationals – with a whopping 110 of them accounted for by just three players went: Antonio Rüdiger, Ilkay Gündogan and Julian Brandt. Most of the burden of the game, however, shouldered Max, who was replaced by Nico Schulz in the 68th minute, and Baku. They had their feet in all the highlights of the first half, including the chic opening goal from 13.
Minute. At first Baku served Florian Neuhaus with a careful back pass at the penalty limit; and after the Czech goalkeeper Jiri Pavlenka had saved the ball, Max came into play on the other, the left side. The former Augsburg player switched quickly and served the ball flat and hard on Luca Waldschmidt. The former Freiburg player pushed the ball over the line from a few meters – 1-0.
Hofmann apparently injured in the thigh
“I’m very happy that he came in so well, including that Waldschmidt scored,” said Löw. “I think you can be satisfied with the newcomers. In the first half we had more quality of play with Gündogan.”
Nevertheless, the team generated their best scenes mainly with the involvement of the novices. Baku was particularly noticeable because he conjured up one of the few chances for the Czechs with a bad back pass – the happy Michal Kremenik got no pressure behind the ball from 18 meters (22nd) – and was unimpressed. Around five minutes later, Baku even attempted a shot on goal from a tight angle; shortly before the break he brought Nadiem Amiri into play, who missed a promising double chance.
The fact that Amiri was already on the pitch was due to the obviously muscular thigh injury of Gladbacher Jonas Hofmann. He had to leave the field again in the 20th minute. At the break, Löw made his announcement to replace the captain Ilkay Gündogan. He will be all the more needed in the upcoming Nations League games against Ukraine (Saturday) and Spain (Tuesday) when Joshua Kimmich (FC Bayern) has to pass with a knee injury. Gündogan, who had kept calm for 45 minutes, was replaced by Mahmoud Dahoud. Gündogan handed the captain’s armband over to his longest-serving colleague, central defender Antonio Rüdiger.
Dahoud and Neuhaus perform well
After the break, the Czechs were only able to build up sterile pressure. Little by little, the DFB team found its way back to an intimidating version thanks to the impetus of Julian Brandt and Florian Neuhaus in the central midfield. As in the first half, it was the German team that had clearer chances – especially in the 60th minute, when Dahoud snuck into the Czech penalty area with a good dribble and finished with the pike. Although the ball was deflected, it just passed the goal of Pavlenka. In the 76th minute Neuhaus had a formidable performance. After a short defense, he chased the ball to the crossbar.
But that was it with German show elements.
In the closing stages, the Czechs came to situations in which goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had to show himself. Especially in the 82nd minute when he was checked by Matej Vydra with a header from seven meters – the Frankfurt goalkeeper reacted excellently. For the first time this calendar year, the German team remained without conceding a goal. Trapp cheered – and the stadium DJ: “Hallelujah” was the name of the song he put on at the end of the game.
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