Dhe German national team presented itself in a largely stable condition almost two weeks before the start of the European championship against world champions France. However, the team of national coach Löw did not have a sense of achievement. In the friendly against Denmark it was only enough to make it 1-1 in Innsbruck after Neuhaus took the DFB team into the lead (48th). But the Leipzig Poulsen managed to equalize with the Danes’ first good chance (72nd).
The game was dominated by the two returnees Hummels and Müller, who made their hoped-for contribution to a largely orderly German appearance. The Danes, as number ten in the FIFA world rankings, placed two places ahead of the Germans, could only seldom pose a threat to the Germans, who had recently been badly weak on the defensive.
However, the Germans once again failed to get more than one goal out of their four or five good opportunities. Gnabry (44th) and Kimmich (77th) hit the bar. A recurring weakness that does not go along with the claim to at least reach the semi-finals of the EM. “It was intense. It turns out that mistakes at this level are punished. It was seen that we want to. And also that we can implement things, ”said Müller.
Result doesn’t matter
In the Löw era, which is about to start its eighth and last major tournament in just under two weeks, a rule of thumb can be made out in the immediate preparation phase: In the penultimate test match before an EM or World Cup, the result does not play a decisive role in terms of subsequent success. Experience over the past few years shows that you have to reckon with certain weaknesses in this phase – and you can live with them.
Because the team comes straight from intensive training sessions at this point. After a long season, some of the players are still at different fitness levels, and some are not even there because of lengthy club tasks or previous injuries. The final subtleties in the coordination do not therefore have to work properly. That can still be regulated in the remaining time. A completely convincing performance can therefore hardly be expected at this point in time. All of this also applies to the performance against Denmark.
Hope for a nice football summer
As a reminder and classification: Before winning the title in Brazil in 2014, it was only enough to beat Cameroon 2-2 in the penultimate German test. Two years later, when the world champions still reached the semi-finals at the European Championships in France, they lost 3-1 to Slovakia. But when you look back, it is also clear what should be recognizable at this point in time so that the fans can justifiably hope for a great football summer: In addition to the commitment, above all the basic statics of the team.
And corresponding automatisms, even if inaccuracies are still creeping in at this point in time. Before the World Cup in Russia, there wasn’t much of it to be seen in the penultimate test match (1: 2 against Austria) – but for once not in the last test match (2: 1 against Saudi Arabia), which the national coach and his world champions did not do at the time understood as a final warning.
Seen in this way, the German team is at least one step further in 2021. The Bayern block was also a German framework against Denmark and at least ensured a certain basic stability. Although the Munich team actually feel most comfortable in a 4-2-3-1 system – and Müller in Munich does not occupy the central position in the attack where Löw used him against Denmark.
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