AAfter just a few minutes, Jamal Musiala got a feel for the subject matter of German-Dutch football duels. His long, black undershirt didn’t survive the tearing test by an opponent, from then on one of the sleeves was only a short version. After half an hour, another man in Oranje had to pull the textile brake against the young man from Munich – and even that wasn’t the last time.
What could only be interpreted as follows: Musiala was quite difficult to stop at 1-1 (0-1) on Tuesday evening in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, and sometimes not at all. In injury time in the first half, it was Musiala who dared to make one of the rare breakthroughs on the baseline, which promptly resulted in the German opening goal. Thomas Müller, the shooter, unpacked the saw to celebrate, and even if that shouldn’t have been the reason: For him it meant that he is now tied with Uwe Seeler in the statistics with 43 goals.
What happened afterwards, however, offered the national coach material for a few critical studies. Because although it looked that way for a short while, his team was by no means heading for their ninth win in the ninth game under Hansi Flick – and in the end had to be pretty happy not to leave the field as a loser. In the 68th minute Steven Bergwijn scored to make it 1-1, a little later the Germans were lucky that the English referee Craig Pawson conceded his penalty whistle after the intervention of the video assistant; Previously, Thilo Kehrer had been robust against Memphis Depay.
Success story about Musiala
Even after that, the now powerful and enthusiastic Dutch could have easily scored a goal. The Germans no longer looked like a top team ready for the title, although it had to be said that Flick then paid attention to an appropriate distribution of forces and began to change games. This also affected Musiala, who played the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 win over Israel. Nevertheless: The attempt with him in the defensive “six” position in midfield is taking on more and more of a success story. It will be interesting to see what happens in this area of the field when everyone is on board – and if Musiala continues to play like this.
“It was a top game with high intensity for the spectators,” said Flick after the final whistle and praised his team: “It’s nice how they play football. The way is refreshing. She is brave. We can be satisfied with the 1:1. The draw is fair.” The direction was also right for Müller: “You could see that we could not only keep up, but also dominate. The feeling itself is good.”
Hit the bar in the first half: striker Timo Werner
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Image: AFP
In a first half in which both sides defended tenaciously and attacked only sporadically promising, Musiala, aged 19, was the one who provided notable moments: an open sesame for tight spaces. Overall, however, it was extensive mutual neutralization at a high level. On both sides it was noticeable how little the offensive dared to play an attack to the end, instead the (too) early conclusion was often sought. However, the German team had a slight advantage. In the 12th minute, Leroy Sané, staged by Müller, hit the side netting, in the 21st Timo Werner headed the underside of the bar, the ball bounced onto the line, but the assistant on the side raised the flag anyway.
