Scene of the game: There is a reason that Mats Hummels was reactivated by national coach Joachim Löw for the European Football Championship; And there is also a reason that Hummels is called »aussenrist15« on Instagram. Shortly before the break in the EM dress rehearsal against Latvia, Hummels played an outside instep pass from his own half into Serge Gnabry’s run, who scored 5-0 in the penalty area. The outer instep, the 32-year-old’s favorite stylistic device, whether on the Bolzer or in the national jersey – beautifully staged against Latvia.
The result: The German leadership was already clear at halftime. In the end, the DFB team won 7-1 (5-0) in front of a thousand spectators against overwhelmed Latvians. Read the match report here.
What to do with Kimmich? There is no question that Joshua Kimmich is one of the, if not the most influential players in the German national team. No matter where he plays. And because two players, Toni Kroos and İlkay Gündoğan, have also found their center of life in midfield, Kimmich found himself on the right side against Latvia for the first time since the 2018 World Cup – in front of a back three, Kimmich was the right winger. For Löw a compromise solution, he doesn’t want to leave any of the three strategists out.
First half: Although Thomas Müller and Kai Havertz already had a chance to take the lead after two minutes, it lasted until the 20th minute: The outstanding new Champions League winner Havertz pulled into the penalty area on the left and played a one-two with Robin Gosens, who met for leadership. Seconds later, Gündoğan conjured a left-footed shot into the corner (21st). Müller almost completed a copy of the opening goal for the third (27th), after the own goal of the Latvian goalkeeper Roberts Ozols (39th) forced by Havertz, Hummel’s dream pass (45th) followed.
The structure of the game: In the past games it was difficult against low-ranking teams, against Denmark, North Macedonia and Romania no more than one goal was achieved. Of course, Latvia is an even weaker caliber, but Hummels’ qualities in the building game bring a whole new level to the German game. Before his wonderful assist for Gnabry with the outside instep, Hummels had prepared the two almost identical goals to 1-0 and 3-0 with targeted shifts to the left wing.
TVSOON: As nice as Gnabry’s 5: 0 was, it was so bitter for many viewers that they could not follow the goal: In the streaming offshoot of rights holder RTL, TVNOW, the picture remained black after about half an hour until well into the break. And that in times when many football fans no longer have a TV connection and are rushing from streaming subscription to streaming subscription to watch live football. Incidentally, the linear program continued without any problems – German television in 2021.
Second half: The fact that Germany does not have the worst squad was shown by the substitutions of Timo Werner and Leroy Sané for Gnabry and Havertz at the break. And the two new ones met too; Werner on preparatory work by Sané and Kimmich only shortly after the break (50th), Sané on preparatory work by Müller for the final score (76th). However, the show stole them from Aleksejs Saveljevs, who dropkicked a chest drainer from Raimond’s Krollis. Manuel Neuer was in a bad position and therefore didn’t get into the corner early enough (75th).
The jubilee: Speaking of newcomers, the 35-year-old was the first German national goalkeeper to reach a hundred international matches. The supplier gave a special glove model for this purpose, covered with lots of little golden fabric tips, a German flag over the back of the hand and Neuer’s successes on the Velcro fastener. Neuer didn’t really have to keep that much, at an auction they would presumably be classified as new. The fact that Neuer did not keep zero on his anniversary will annoy him despite the result, his ambition is too well known for that.
The outlook: After the bankruptcy against North Macedonia and the draw against Denmark, it was the hoped-for dress rehearsal, in a sense the build-up game before the start of the European Championship against world champions France on June 15 (8.45 p.m., live ticker: SPIEGEL.de, TV: ZDF). Even if Latvia is certainly not a benchmark in view of French superstars like Kylian Mbappé or Karim Benzema. The last game against Latvia ended goalless at the 2004 European Championships, at that time Maris Verpakovskis played the German central defenders Christian Wörns and Frank Baumann in a dizzy state, followed by the end in the group phase. After all, this balance has been improved – you get what you want from it.
