The Mannschaft made short work of Latvia (7-1) in a friendly Monday night in Düsseldorf.
Eight days before its first match of the Euro against France, Germany has honed its offensive automatisms by crushing 7-1 Monday the weak Latvia in front of a thousand supporters in Düsseldorf.
By choosing the 138th nation in the Fifa ranking as the ultimate opponent before the continental tournament (June 11-July 11), the German Federation obviously wanted to offer the Mannschaft a final test run likely to give it momentum and confidence. Manuel Neuer, who was celebrating his 100th selection, and his teammates seized the opportunity: they put pace, collective enthusiasm, and finally materialized their opportunities.
This victory is not sportingly significant but important mentally for a team in need of certainties, before approaching the “group of death” of the Euro in Munich against France (June 15), Portugal (June 19). and Hungary (June 23).
Five goals before the break, and five different scorers: Robin Gosens (19th), Ilkay Gündogan (21st), Thomas Müller (27th), Latvian goalkeeper Robert Ozols, who deflected a cross from Kai Havertz (39th) and Serge Gnabry (45th)!
The danger came in particular from overflows in the area of Havertz, the author of Chelsea’s winning goal in the Champions League final, who placed some formidable passes behind, as on the first goal offered to Gosens.
“A convincing match”
With six player changes, the pace dropped a bit in the second period, but Timo Werner (50th) and Leroy Sané (76th) continued the festival. Only downside, Manuel Neuer has once again failed to keep his clean sheet. Aleksejs Saveljevs took advantage of a defensive concentration error to save the Latvian honor (6-1, 75 ‘).
For this final rehearsal, coach Joachim Löw had lined up the team which should almost start against France on June 15 in Munich. The oldest team for 19 years, with an average age of 29, obviously noted by the four survivors of the group of holders of the 2014 world champion in Brazil: Neuer, who celebrated his 100th selection at 35, Toni Kroos, 31 years old and the two ghosts Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels, 31 and 32 years old, recalled for the Euro after being dismissed in 2019 in the wake of the fiasco of the World-2018.
With the choice of a three-way defense led by Mats Hummels, Löw had placed Joshua Kimmich on the right flank, and not in a central defensive midfielder like at Bayern, the two midfield positions being occupied by Kroos and Gündogan.
In front, the coach had once again not lined up as a center-forward, to compose an attacking trio with Müller, Gnabry and Havertz. Werner did not enter until the second half. “The result is not the most important, but the way yes”, welcomed Thomas Müller, “we saw a convincing match, but we know that France is of a different caliber than Latvia, it is clear”.
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