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Sport: Thunder weather for the world champion: 1:3 against Slovakia

defeat

The DFB-Elf lost 1:3 to Slovakia. Photo: Peter Kneffel

(Photo: dpa)

The 1:3 The 1: 3 (1: 2) against Slovakia gave the national coach the most important insight that he still has a lot of work to do to make the soccer world champion ready for the European Championship title by the start of the tournament in two weeks. Without a number of non-operational or rested regulars from captain Bastian Schweinsteiger to Thomas Müller and Champions League winner Toni Kroos, the German team was unable to spark any enthusiasm for the European Championship in the penultimate test on Sunday.

There was a verbal thunderstorm from the national coach after the big thunderstorm that extended the half-time break to 40 minutes, but not. “It was actually a bit of a shame that the pitch wasn’t as playable in the second half. That inhibited the flow of the game and the combination,” commented Löw. He limited his sporting judgment to the first half: “We had at least a few good moves up front, but we weren’t very well organized defensively.”

When real football could still be played in front of only 22,110 spectators in the Augsburg Arena, which was by no means sold out, Mario Gomez put the DFB team ahead in the 13th minute with his first penalty in the national jersey. A double strike from Slovakia, who participated in the European Championship, by Marek Hamsik (41st) and Michal Duris (44th) destroyed the lively performance of the German team. The third goal conceded by Juray Kucka (52nd) was nevertheless due to substitute goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, who let the ball slip through his legs. “That won’t affect our trust in him,” Loew said indulgently. “The result is of secondary importance to us, but the second half was very, very difficult. We got two stupid standard goals, ”quarreled world champion Mario Götze, who was an asset.

Two days before the final 23-man squad was nominated, it became apparent that Löw would need the established players above all to succeed at the European Championship. “This game alone doesn’t make a decision for me,” he said. Nobody deserved to be sorted out, he added with a view to the nomination deadline this Tuesday. “It’s going to be difficult, sure.” He reported positive things about Schweinsteiger. The captain was able to work with the ball on the pitch in Ascona on Sunday.

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In the tenth international match against Slovakia, the insights – like the result – were modest overall. None of the four debutants Bernd Leno, Joshua Kimmich, Julian Weigl and Julian Brandt was able to collect decisive plus points. Schalke’s Leroy Sané was the only one of the youngsters who was allowed to play through 90 minutes – he seems to be the most promising candidate for a place in the European Championship.

Gomez in particular could feel like the winner, who documented his growing self-confidence with the goal and some dangerous actions in the penalty area. Löw took the top scorer out at the break due to a slight muscular problem. He didn’t want to take any chances. Götze was also very enthusiastic about playing 15 days after his broken rib, and Julian Draxler kept attacking.

There was initially no sign of tiredness after the first week of training at Lake Maggiore. The DFB team started energetically, although they had never played together in the line-up. Löw had renounced nine top performers for various reasons.

Löw solved the bottleneck in the sixth position with a tactical variant. The only defensive midfielder was Khedira, who proved his tournament fitness after a month-long injury break. Behind them was a three-man defense with Jérôme Boateng, Antonio Rüdiger and Kimmich as well as outside players Jonas Hector and Sebastian Rudy. After just three minutes, Boateng had the first chance to score with a scissor blow. Gomez converted the penalty after a foul on Götze. It was the 27th international goal for the top scorer from Turkey. In this phase of the game there was only one point of criticism, the exploitation of chances. Hector (27th), Sané (30th) and Draxler (32nd) awarded the 2-0.

The Slovaks used a period of deep sleep in the last five minutes of the first half to turn the game around. First Hamsik put a 25-metre shot into the goal that Leno couldn’t hold (41′). Shortly thereafter, Rudy first prevented the second goal on the goal line, but Filip Duris made up for it with a header in the subsequent corner (44th). Belgian referee Serge Gumienny even considered abandoning the game after the thunderstorm. But the German team had nothing more to offer than effort on the deep pitch.

EM schedule

EM participants

EM venues

National team schedule

Sporting management of the national team

International match record against 91 opponents so far

Provisional EM squad

Ascona Municipal Stadium

DFB team hotel in the training camp

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