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Football World Cup: Füllkrug’s goal against Spain gives hope

Athey all jumped up. The substitutes, the coaches, the supervisors. Everyone was running around outside on the sidelines, water bottles flying through the air. It seemed like no one knew what to do with his joy, with all the pressure released in a matter of seconds. As if the lid had flown off the boiler, so much energy made its way on Sunday evening seven minutes before the final whistle between Germany and Spain at the Al Bait Stadium. And first on the pitch. They all ran to the player who had caused this ecstasy, the liberation: Niclas Füllkrug.

He was the man who scored the acclaimed equalizer against Spain just before midnight. His goal in the 83rd minute to make it 1-1 (0-0) leaves the German national football team, which for the first time in World Cup history without a win in the first two games, still has every chance of making it into the Knockout round open.

She is in last place in her group E before the last matchday on Thursday evening (10 p.m. / ARD and MagentaTV) with just one point behind Spain (four points), Japan (3) and Costa Rica (3). But with a win over Costa Rica, the selection of the German Football Association (DFB) could make it into the round of 16 – depending on the outcome of the parallel game between Japan and Spain and the goal difference.

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But there is still some time until the showdown. Time to recover, to refocus. On Sunday there was this one moment, this one scene that the team of Hansi Flick, the national coach, maybe needed – and for which Niclas Füllkrug, the 29-year-old striker from Werder Bremen, in the 26-player World Cup squad had been appointed. Füllkrug – the best German striker and currently second in the top scorer list in the Bundesliga with ten goals – was there when it mattered.

“We can now go into the last game with a good feeling”

“We really wanted to draw this game, it was important that we got a point – just for the feeling,” said the scorer happily: “Of course we wanted to win the game, but we still have a little room for improvement.” And Full krug warned: “We don’t need to go crazy either, it’s still a 1-1 and not a win. But we can now go into the last game with a good feeling and hope that everything will turn out well.”

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Thanks to the Bremer, who they call a “gap” because of a gap in the upper row of teeth. He perfectly filled the gap that existed up front in the German attack. Having come on for Thomas Müller in the 69th minute shortly after Alvaro Morata put the Spaniards ahead, he resolutely took the ball with him after a pass from Jamal Musiala – and pushed it with full force into the far post.

This sharpness, this hardness when shooting – that was symbolic for a team that had lacked it, especially at the end of the first game against Japan, but also for long stretches against the Spaniards. The team documented Manuel Neuer’s will and greed. The captain and goalkeeper went to a few players in turn just before kick-off. You collided with your upper body, you high-fived. In the game, the Spaniards, who were so sure of the ball, so experienced and technically strong, were usually on top at the beginning and put the German team under pressure.

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Until Niclas Füllkrug scored the all-important goal in his third international match.

“Fulness came in cool. That’s what he’s in for, he’s got great self-confidence and, as you can see, he’s got a real hammer,” praised Thomas Müller on ZDF. “We played 1-1 against one of the top favorites for the title,” added the 120-time international: “Of course we were angry. We had imagined it all very differently. Our task now is to beat Costa Rica – and then hope that the other result matches ours.”

Goretzka is a win

After the result in the first game against Japan, 1: 2, the national coach had adjusted his line-up – and reformed in two positions: Thilo Kehrer had moved into the team for Nico Schlotterbeck and Leon Goretzka for Kai Havertz. Especially the latter knew how to convince over long stretches, especially with his physical game. Otherwise it wasn’t easy to create chances against well defending Spaniards. The German team found it particularly difficult when the opponent pressed high. Then Flick’s back team acted partly nervous, unsure. The ball often ended up out of bounds. After the 1-0 draw, Germany, unlucky because of Antonio Rüdiger’s offside goal, got better. With the arrival of Leroy Sané, the pressure in the creative center was no longer just on Musiala.

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“We saw a very interesting game. Every football fan got their money’s worth. The team fought unconditionally. But we have only taken one step,” said national coach Flick: “Füllkrug did us good with the determination with which he pulled away.” He regretted the chance Sané missed shortly before the end: “In the end we simply have to reward ourselves. Scoring the second goal – those are things we are working on.” Flick described what the team had achieved as “gigantic”. “I’m really proud, I have to say so,” said the national coach: “If we conceded a goal, we have to see that we can make the passes. But I think we had a good answer today. If we take this momentum with us, a lot can be possible.”

It was the goal that gave the impetus, new hope – and the confirmation of how indispensable it is to act with passion, with courage. It was far from a perfect, not a convincing game, but at least it was a statement. The team did not surrender, they pushed for the goal against Spaniards, against whom they last conceded a 0-6 swatter in November 2020. And it fell.

This time “the bank was there”

“It was a great passion today,” said Leon Goretzka, who started a long sprint shortly before the end of the game and broke off a dangerous counterattack by the Spaniards with a tackle: “We knew before the game that there would always be phases in which we must suffer. We accepted that.”

It was important for the midfielder to say the following: “What I would like to say positively is that after we conceded we came back the way we came back. That requires a great mentality.” In many ways, the game was a step in the right direction, added Goretzka, for whom there was something important to say: “What you noticed was that we celebrated duels. When David Raum straddled a left, the bank was there. I hope that everyone realizes that this is the only way it can work. No matter what kind of quality you have in the squad. That must be the realization of the game.”

A game like a chest solver? Possible. Maybe it needed all the unrest that was about the debate about the captain’s armband, whether the opening defeat, whether the substitutions in the first game against Japan, for which the national coach had been criticized. The team seemed more solid – it was a unit, in the game, when celebrating. Everyone was happy with each other.

It remains to be seen whether there will also be a reason to celebrate on Thursday. In the only duel with Costa Rica in the history of an international match so far, there was a victory: On June 9, 2006, Germany won 4:2 at the start of the home World Cup.

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